Pokemon Impact 3: Roar of the new generation
by Brian Powell
Summary: Five years ago, a criminal organisation called Team Dark crumbled at the hands of Black Jack, Ash and others. Now, Black Jack and his niece, Alice, travel around the world, looking for new adventures...
1. Prologue

Hello, PI fans. As prmoised I've placed the new series after weeks of making you people wait (Shame on me ').

Notes on the symbols:  
( ): Spoken in Pokemon Language  
"": Talking (and sometimes thinking if stated)

Now, let us begin...

**Pokemon Impact 3: Roar of the new generation**

**Prologue**

Four figures sat in a large sitting room of mansion, three of them were men and one of them was a woman. One of them men wore mostly black leather clothing, sunglasses and a black bandanna wrapped around his forehead; that man's name was Black Jack, known for past winning streak, ways of battling and surviving many dangers. The woman and the two other men wore smart clothing; they were relatives of his.

Black Jack privately spoke to his brother John, his adoptive father Jason and his sister-in-law Sandra about what happened in Orre Region, relating to the death of his parents years ago. It was an hour since Alice went to sleep after her ninth birthday party ended. They sat in the sitting room listening to what Black Jack had to say.

"So… it was him," John said, feeling shocked.

"Yep," Black Jack replied. "He said that he knows everything about me."

"Then… he knows about us?" Sandra asked, also shocked.

"We need to think of a plan to stop this madman," Jason suggested.

"I have a suggestion," Black Jack said. "How about I take all of you guys under my protection?"

"No, it won't do," John said as he stood up, objecting Black Jack's suggestion. "If you are his target then I'll get one of my security guards to protect you."

"Thanks for your concern, but I can take care of myself. I didn't train my pokemon or myself for nuthin'. But what about you guys?"

"We, too, have pokemon ourselves," Jason said. "You don't need to worry about us, we have the best security."

"I'm sure not about that," Black Jack said. "If something happen to you guys…" He held back a terrible feeling concerning his family getting hurt by the man that killed his own parents. He couldn't live with himself if that ever happened. He looked down with wide eyes.

"There's one person we'll allow you to look after, Jack," Sandra said. "Alice wants to go on a pokemon journey next year and if everyone agrees… you can take her with you."

"Wait a minute," Black Jack said as he held his head up in shock. "What about you guys? I can't…"

"Yes you can," Jason said. "As I said before, we have the best security money can buy."

"Please, Jack," John said. "You're an experienced traveller and Alice needs someone to help and teach her. After all, she did say that she wants to be a pokemon trainer like you."

"True…" Black Jack said uneasily. Despite a short time he and Alice spent together, they held a great bond with each other as uncle and niece. Various thoughts came into his mind, thinking of the pros and cons of Alice travelling with him. After some time thinking, he came with an answer. "Okay, I'll do it," he said with smile.

"Then it's settled," Jason said as he stood up from his seat. "Next year, she'll go on a pokemon journey with you." With that, he walked out of the living room and up the stairs.

"Jack," John said. "Alice is our daughter and you're her uncle. Sandra and I know that we should spend time with our child… but you've taken care of her while we were away and I want to thank you for doing that."

"Y'know, I wanna thank you too," Black Jack said. "For not turning away from me when I told you I was a Team Rocket agent and for letting me know that I'm still part of the family. Don't worry about it, I'm make sure that nothing bad happens to her."

They both clasped hands as a sign of friendship as Sandra looked on happily.

A year later, Alice, who became ten, qualified to be a pokemon trainer when she passed her tests based on pokemon knowledge. It was a sad day since she had to leave her parents but yet it was happy one since she was starting her pokemon journey to become a pokemon master like her uncle.

The following day after her test, Black Jack, his relatives and their butlers and maids were waiting patiently for Alice to come downstairs to the main hall. When she did, she was being followed by a young and cute bear called Teddiursa nicknamed Big Brother, a young puppy called Eevee nicknamed Little Sister and a baby pokemon that was kept inside a half broken egg called Togepi nicknamed QT.

While she was coming down the stairs, Black Jack was one of first people to smile at the person he cared for the most… his niece, Alice. She was wearing a pink T-shirt with a picture of a purple heart at the front, blue jeans, red and white trainers, a green wristband on her left wrist and she was carrying a green backpack on her back. She had blond ponytail hair and a cute face, despite a small scar on her left cheek, which reminded Black Jack of a situation where he had to save her from one of his enemies and to make sure that she would never get hurt again.

Recently, during Alice's birthday celebration, Black Jack announced that he would be joining her on her pokemon journey. Alice was happy about having her uncle by side, knowing the fact that he would be teaching her the ways of pokemon, life and others, little did she know that Black Jack had other reasons.

"Alice…" Jason said happily as he stepped towards her grandchild, trying to not shed a tear. "You have grown so much and now you're going to see the world. I have never been this happy, yet so sad in all my years."

"I can't believe it either," Alice said in sad tone as she looked up to her eldest relative. "I'll miss you grandpa."

As Jason slightly crouched towards her to give her a hug, she looked towards her parents. "Mom… Dad…" she said softly as she released herself from her hug and walked towards them.

Her father placed his hands on her shoulders. "Look at you," he said with a small smile. "You are young and now you're going on an adventure… just remember that no matter what happens, we will always love you and we will always be with you."

"I love you too, dad," Alice replied with a small smile.

They noticed that Sandra, a loving wife and mother, was too upset to say anything. "Don't cry, my dear," John said as he hugged his wife. "She had to leave some day."

"I know," Sandra sobbed.

"Mom…" Alice said in a concerned tone.

"Oh, I remembered something," Sandra said as she wiped the tears off her face and took out a gold necklace with a locket at the end. She opened it, revealing a small photo of her, John and Alice in a group wearing smart clothing. "This is to remind that you're not alone. We also gave your uncle Jack some money to help you on your way."

She handed them over to Alice. Alice took the necklace placed it around her neck. "It's beautiful, Mom," she said softly as her lips began to slightly wobble while she hugged her. "I love this and I love you too."

She looked down at her pokemon and kneeled down to them. "Okay, guys," she said with a small smile while wiping away her tear. "I have to go now."

All three of her pokemon shook their heads while yelling out their cries, showing that they don't her to leave them behind. They leapt into her arms, begging her to take them. Alice tried to assure them that she will come back to see them but to no avail.

"It looks like they want to come with us," Black Jack said.

"Are you sure you guys want to come with us?" Alice asked her pokemon, which they nodded in response signalling that they want to come.

"You guys do realise that it's a dangerous place out there, right?" Black jack asked.

"Teddi Teddiursa! Ursa!" Teddiursa said.

"What did Big Brother say, uncle?" Alice asked.

Having been travelling around the world and training pokemon for over twenty years, Black Jack understood the pokemon language. "He says that you're their best friend and they don't want to be left behind."

"My family…" she said as she looked back at her pokemon who were still giving a heart warming hug, refusing to let her go. "You win." She said with a small smile.

"Well," John said as he placed his hand in his pocket, taking out some small red and white sphere balls. "Alice will be needing some of these."

"Pokeballs?" Alice asked. "Those are devices that keep pokemon inside?"

"That's right," Black Jack said. He then turned his attention to three of Alice's pokemon. "You cubs realise that if you come along, there would be a lot bad things going on, right?"

All three of her pokemon yelled out their cries in determined voices. Black Jack knew that they would do anything to protect Alice because of all the times they had with her.

Alice took the pokeballs out of John's hand and promised she would take good care of each and everyone of her pokemon as she zapped them into their pokeballs for the very first time. She then turned her attention to her uncle.

"You ready to rock, uncle?" Alice asked in an enthusiastic tone.

"Ready," Black Jack replied as he clenched his fist.

As he turned round to lead Alice out of the mansion, his face of shared feelings of joy and sadness turned into anger, remembering his two enemies he fought in the past. "Mane, Tusk, one touch on this girl and you're dead meat," he thought.

He and Alice got on his motorcycle ready to embark on a lifelong journey for Alice to become a pokemon master. "Wait a minute, uncle," she said before Black Jack was about to start up his vehicle. She quickly got off and ran towards her parents, giving them one last tight hug before she could start her journey. Her parents gave her a loving hug in return.

"Mom… Dad… I'll miss you," she sobbed.

"We'll miss you too," her father said while crying. "You have to get going now, munchkin. No matter what happens, you're still our daughter."

"Be careful now, my darling," her mother sobbed. "I love you."

She gave them both a kiss on the cheek each before she went back to her uncle, Black Jack, who was looking on and hiding his sadness away from the rest of his family. "At times like this, I wish that my parents were there to see me off when I was a kid," he thought to himself.

As Alice got on the motorcycle, Black Jack started up the engine. "Take one last good look at your first home, little cub," Black Jack said, referring to his niece. "Cos it'll be a long time before you're gonna get back."

Alice did as he advised to while Black Jack drove away. Tears began to flow from her eyes as they began to get further and further away from the place where she and Black Jack called 'home'.

"Uncle Jack," she said. "Are you crying too?"

"No," Black Jack replied holding back his tears. "I know it's a sad moment… but you know me."

Some time later, Black Jack and his niece arrived to a place where Alice would get her first pokemon, Prof. Elm's laboratory of New Bark Town. "Here we are," Black Jack said stopping his bike. "New Bark Town."

He turned his attention to his young niece, whose eyes became widened because of the fast ride. "You okay?" he asked in a curious tone.

"That was fun," Alice said simply and happily.

They got off their bike and walked towards the door. "First lesson, kid," Black Jack said. "A trainer can pick a pokemon from many different types of pokemon. But sometimes a pokemon can choose a trainer."

"Why's that, uncle?" Alice asked as she listened intently to her uncle's lecture.

"That way, the two will become connected and the trainer will discover a pokemon's true power."

"That doesn't sound like you. Where did you get the information?"

"'Lu-Gi-Oh'."

"I didn't know you watch that cartoon."

"I don't, it was one of those moments where you have to switch channels until you come across the least boring program. It does sound strange coming from a cartoon but it is a good theory."

They knocked on the door and it opened revealing a man with brown hair wearing everyday clothing underneath a lab coat. "Hey there, Elm," Black Jack said recognising one of the world's famous professors.

"Ah! Hello, Black Jack!" Prof. Elm said enthusiastically. He looked down on the new trainer, recognising her. "That means that you must be Alice, looking forward to make a start on her pokemon journey.

"Hi, Prof. Elm," Alice replied with a wink. "And have you got that right."

"Please, come in," Elm said, motioning them to enter before closing the door.

He led them into his study room. In it were some bookshelves, filled with countless books and documents, a desk with a computer on it and a number of machines. What was most noticeable in the entire room was that there was a table with three pokeballs on it.

"Are these…?" Alice said as she pointed towards them.

"Yes," Elm replied. "But you can only pick one of the three pokemon here. Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we open them in unison?"

"How about it uncle?" Alice asked.

"Okay with me," Black Jack said.

The three humans picked up a pokemon-contained pokeball each and opened them together. Three different energies came out of their respective pokeballs and materialised into three different kinds of pokemon.

One was a young blue crocodile called Totodile, another was a young fiery mouse called Cyndaquil and the third pokemon was a little green cute dinosaur called Chikorita. "The choice is now yours, Alice," Elm said as Black Jack bent down towards the three pokemon.

"Hey there," he said trying to sound cute but to no avail as the three pokemon began to become rather scared of him. "Oh no," Black Jack said, realising what he had just done. "Don't be scared of me, I'm a nice but silly guy…"

That only upset the pokemon even more when they started crying making Black Jack back away from them while Alice came towards them. The Cyndaquil ran towards her and hid behind her leg.

"Aww," Alice said cutely. "Did the mean old man scare you?"

The Cyndaquil nodded and held up its paws like it was a baby. Alice picked it up and started hugging the little mouse while tickling its tummy with her finger. "I could you put you in a diaper and put you in a pram right now," Alice said in a cute way. She then turned her attention to her uncle. "Uncle Jack, what do you think?"

"Well, none of them were comfortable with me," Black Jack replied.

"Didn't you say that sometimes a pokemon could choose a trainer?" Alice said. "When it touched me by the leg, somehow I felt that this is the one for me."

"You're learning really well," Black Jack said impressed. "As long as you're both happy, that is what counts."

"Did you hear that, buddy?" Alice said as she looked at it. "Welcome to the team!"

"Quil! Quil!" the Cyndaquil squeaked happily as it nuzzled on Alice's cheek.

"Then it's settled," Elm said. "Cyndaquil is now your pokemon." He took a flat red device out of his pocket and handed it over to her. "Here's your pokedex. It'll tell you everything you need to know about pokemon."

"Thank you, Prof. Elm," Alice said happily as she took the pokedex and putting it in her pocket.

"What are you gonna call him?" Elm asked, as he returned the two pokemon back into their pokeballs.

"It's a male?" Alice asked in realisation. Then she placed her finger on her chin while thinking deeply. "How about Blaze?"

The Cydaquil shook his head, signalling a no.

"Molten?"

The Cydaquil shook his head again.

Each name that Alice gave him, Cyndaquil replied with no. Everyone was patient about Cyndaquil's choice of names, except Black Jack. "Oh… déjà vu," he muttered in thought. "This is the reason why I don't nickname my pokemon."

During the next three years of training and travelling, she had captured many pokemon but kept the ones she had from the beginning of her journey including an ugly looking fish called Feebas, which Alice nicknamed her Serenity as she believed that the real beauty's on the inside, and a crafty yet trusty pokemon called Sneasel named Glacia.

At different moments of her training, Alice's pokemon evolved from their pre-evolved forms. Big Brother was now an Ursaring, Little Sister's an Espeon, QT became a Togetic, Pyro the Cyndaquil evolved into Quilava and Serenity became the beautiful Milotic, but Glacia still remained in its pre-evolved form.

She became a quarter finalist in the Johto League, a semi finalist in the Kanto League and also participated in a lot of pokemon contests in her spare time. Nevertheless, her uncle was always pleased of her.

Black Jack also had his fair share of pokemon battles, despite the fact that he never participated in leagues or tournaments because of being Alice's tutor, teaching her the ways of pokemon and life.

Even though he had suspicions that his old enemies would soon show themselves up, they have yet to do so. Still, Black Jack was always on his guard for them, including new ones.

Out of all their great adventures they had, the next few will be unforgettable.  
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	2. Episode 1, Chapter 1

Episode 1: The L on the forehead

Chapter 1

Three years have passed. After participating in some tough competitions, Black Jack and Alice decided to take break from it before they could decide on their next destination of adventure.

It was a hot summer day at Lilycove beach of the Hoenn region. Black Jack was resting on the side of his motorcycle as he looked at the beautiful waves of the sea. His image didn't change much; only he grew a few inches taller. He was wearing a black tight T-shirt, black jeans, black boots and a black bandanna wrapped around his head. His arms were showing scars and tattoos in different places.

He was about to drink some of his beer, but a beach ball came flying by and he caught it. He looked and spotted girl, familiar to him. She was wearing a cute green swimsuit, and had yellow ponytail hair, and a pretty cute face, despite a small scar underneath her left eye. "Sorry, uncle!" she cried happily. "Can you pass the ball back?"

"You're just lucky I didn't spill my drink, Alice!" Black Jack shouted back as he smiled while tossing back the beach ball. "Just be careful, will ya!"

Both of them were in a quiet spot of the beach, away from other people. Because of their fame, people couldn't hold back their excitement to run up to them and ask them for their autograph. Therefore, in order to avoid being surrounded by fans, they had to find somewhere quiet.

Alice, now at thirteen years old, was playing volleyball with her pokemon. Three of Black Jack's pokemon, Tyranitar, Feraligatr, and Nidoking were playing a game where they had to smash a watermelon into pieces using a wooden sword each, blindfolded while his other pokemon, Metagross, Salamence and Chan the Blaziken sunbathed.

Nidoking inadvertently hit Feraligatr on the head with his wooden weapon. "(Did I get it)?" Nidoking growled.

"It's over there, Nidoking," Black Jack replied. Since he was training his pokemon for so long, he now fully understood pokemon language.

Smasher took off his blindfold to see what was going on. He spotted the watermelon still not smashed… and now yards away from him. He looked at Comedian with nervous eyes and Feraligatr stared angrily at him with a large bump on his head.

"(S… sorry, Feraligatr)," he growled nervously.

Feraligatr hit him on the head with his wooden weapon in response, making Nidoking angry as well. Both of them got into a fight, distracting everyone.

Tyranitar stood next to his trainer and friend. "(Shouldn't we stop them?)", he asked.

"That's the way we train", Black Jack replied in response, noticing the dusty clouds surrounding the fight between Nidoking and Feraligatr. "Although theirs is a bit unorthodox."

"Hey! Alice!" shouted a teenager boy's voice, whose accent sounded american. Everyone turned their attention to him, even Smasher and Comedian stopped their childish fighting. He was wearing a white T-shirt with blue sleeves, blue jeans and red trainers. His hair was blond and was nearly reaching his eyes.

"Jerry!" Alice cried as she ran over to him and gave him a big hug. Jerry hugged back in return.

"Jerry, huh?" Black Jack said, noticing the boy's arrival. "How did he found us here?"

"(He probably thought about looking for a quiet spot himself)," Tyranitar replied.

"Hey!" Jerry said. "How are things goin'?"

"Everything's going great!" Alice said joyfully. "I'm so happy to see you!"

"Same here, it's been four years since we were together."

Jerry and Alice have been best of friends for so long that they don't even know when they started. But they had to separate, because Jerry was one year older than Alice and wanted to start his pokemon journey early to become a pokemon master.

-Flashback-

Four years ago, a grade school was having a leaving party for the students who were to leave the next day for their pokemon journey. Jerry was one of those people and Alice didn't like the idea.

Instead of being part of the party, Alice went on one of the swings in the school playground. It was warm afternoon that day but she didn't care, as she was feeling rather depressed.

Jerry came to talk to her. "What's wrong, Alice?" he asked in a concerned tone.

"I don't want you to go," Alice replied in a sad tone.

"Alice, I have to. If I want to become a pokemon master as quick as possible, I'd have to get an early start."

"You're one of my best friends! I don't want to see you go! I don't want to say goodbye!"

Small tears came out of Alice's eyes as she jumped off the swing and ran back into entrance of the school while Jerry gave chase.

While inside, Jerry kept on calling Alice's name but to no avail. At some point, Jerry some familiar sobbing noises from a nearby closet, which was a janitor's closet. He opened the door and saw Alice crouching down with her knees to her head. Jerry kneeled down to her put his hand on her shoulder.

"I don't wanna say goodbye either," he said. He then scratched his head, thinking of a solution. "Tell you what," he continued. "I promise that we'll see each other again."

"You mean it?" Alice asked as she wiped the tears off her eyes. "Promise?"

"Promise."

Jerry and Alice then shaped their small fingers as small hooks, they hooked their small fingers and shook though as though they shaking hands on an agreement.

-End flashback-

As Jerry and Alice started reminiscing on old times, Black Jack and his pokemon walked over to them. "Jerry," Black Jack said, catching their attention.

The two young trainers turned round, with Jerry's eyes being widened as he was looking at one of the world's top trainers. "Bl… Black Jack?" Jerry said in a shocked and nervous tone.

Jerry pointed at both people, knowing the fact that they were relatives. "You two… travelling together?" Jerry said in a shocked tone.

"I don't want to say it out loud, but yeah," Alice answered.

"You must be pretty lucky, travelling around with a pokemon master an' all," Jerry said.

Suddenly, Jerry had an idea as he pictured a light bulb appearing on top of his head. "I got an idea!" he said excitedly. "How about I join up with you two? I could use a little help!"

"Hey! That's a great idea, Jerry!" Alice said, as she liked the idea. "How about it uncle?"

"Well, I can't just take him along just because he's a friend of yours," Black Jack replied. "Tell you what, do well in a battle against me and I'll take you in, deal?"

Jerry became shocked and scared as he started to sweat a lot upon hearing Black Jack's challenge. "You don't have to beat me," Black Jack said. "Just do something challenging."

"C'mon, Jerry," Alice said, encouraging her friend. "You can do this."

Jerry gulped in a hard way. "Okay…" he said nervously.  
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	3. Episode 1, Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Black Jack and Jerry stood a distance away from each other. Behind Black Jack were his respective pokemon. Standing at a distance between the two trainers was Alice, Black Jack's niece and Jerry's best friend, along with her pokemon, as she was refereeing this match. She looked at both trainers and noticed that Jerry was sweating.

"Since you're the rookie, Jerry," Black Jack said. "I'll be choosing my pokemon first, this will give you an advantage."

"Gee," Jerry replied nervously. "Thanks."

Black Jack looked at Chan the Blaziken and nodded, signalling to him to take part in battle. Chan nodded back and ran onto the battlefield. Jerry took a pokeball off his belt; he looked at it and let out a small sigh, trying to calm himself down. He then tossed it out. "Go! Jackie!" he yelled, trying to sound determined.

A pokemon classified as a kicking pokemon materialised as it came out of his pokeball. "Hitmonlee!" Jackie cried as he prepared for battle. He looked to see whom he was going to battle.

His eyes widened with happiness he saw his opponent. He let out a loud cry as he ran over to Chan with open arms. "Jackie! Wait a minute!" Jerry yelled with a shocked look on his face. "Alice didn't say begin yet!"

"Chan!" Black Jack yelled, not realising what Jackie was planning to do and neither did Chan. "Use your Fury attack and end it with Sky Uppercut!"

Chan dashed towards Jackie until his arm slammed on his gut. He then started poking on him rapidly viciously like a Dodrio poking on numerous Diglett and finished him off by giving him a heavy punch to the face, sending him flying and knocking him out as Jackie fell into the sand. "Jackie's unable to battle!" Alice announced as she raised her hand to her uncle. "Chan's the winner!"

"Wait a minute," Black Jack said, realising what had just happened. "He wasn't attacking, he was intending to hug you, Chan."

"(A hug?)" Chan replied as he looked back at his trainer. "(Why's that?)"

"I have to confess something here," Jerry said nervously as he placed his hand at the back of his head while returning his pokemon. "Jackie's a REALLY big fan of your Blaziken, Black Jack."

"(O… kay)," Chan said as anime-sweat appeared on the back of his head, as did Black Jack's.

"Just what we need," Black Jack thought. "Another fan."

Jerry took out another pokeball. "Go! Bulldozer!" he yelled as he tossed it out, revealing a boulder-like pokemon Graveller. "Bulldozer! Use Rollout!"

The rock type pokemon began to roll like a bowling ball towards the fiery fighter, attempting to knock him down like one of the pins in a ten-pin bowling game.

"Jump into the air to dodge it!" Black Jack instructed loudly.

Chan performed a leapfrog-like jump to avoid Bulldozer's attack. He quickly turned round, knowing that a Rollout attack can return to you like a homing missile. But to his and everyone else's surprise, Bulldozer didn't roll back as he rolled towards the sea.

"Turn back, Bulldozer!" Jerry yelled desperately. "Turn back!"

But the Graveller wasn't able to as he splashed into it, much to everyone's shock. "Feraligatr!" Black Jack yelled. "Save him!"

"(Got it)!" Feraligatr growled loudly as he ran and dived into the water.

A few moments later, Feraligatr walked up to the surface of the water and onto dry land, carrying the unconscious Bulldozer. "(This guy needs to lose a few pounds)!" the blue crocodile complained as he dropped him onto the sandy beach.

Awkward looks appeared on everyone's faces because of what they have just saw as they stared at Jerry. Jerry noticed this and quickly retaliated as he took out his pokeball. "Er… a minor setback," he said nervously as he zapped Bulldozer back into his pokeball. He placed the device back onto his belt and took out another. "Go! Zapster!" he yelled as he tossed it out.

A small yellow mouse with red cheeks and a jagged tail materialised and landed on the ground. It crossed its forelegs and gave a confident look at Chan, who signalled him to attack him. "Something's weird about this boy," Black Jack thought suspiciously.

"Alright!" Jerry yelled. "Zapster! Thunderbolt!"

Zapster leapt into the air and charged up his electric powers on his red cheeks and let out a huge electric attack on Chan but missed when he dodged out of the way.

"Chan!" Black Jack yelled. "Leap into the air and use your Blaze Kick!"

Chan did as he was instructed and leapt into the air. He became as high as Zapster was and gave a roundhouse flaming kick but missed as well. "Again!" Black Jack yelled.

Chan repeatedly kept on using his Blaze Kick attack but kept on missing as Zapster confidently dodged each one. "That Pikachu's real quick," Black Jack thought suspiciously. "But there's something negative about him."

Eventually, Chan did hit Zapster, sending him hard into the ground. As Zapster quickly got back up, he noticed a burnt mark on his right foreleg. He angrily looked at Jerry, who immediately had a shocked look on his face, and zapped him with its Thundershock attack, much to everyone's surprise.

After feeling the painful jolt, Jerry fell on his back. As he quickly got up, he saw Zapster angrily running closer to him. Jerry panicked and quickly took out Zapster's pokeball. "RETURN!" Jerry yelled quickly in a scared tone.

After Zapster was zapped back into his pokeball, Jerry let out a small sigh of relief and embarrassment. "What have I done to deserve this?" Jerry said as anime tears ran down his face.

"Alright, Jerry," Black Jack snarled in disappointment and suspicion. "Enough secrets. What's going on here?"

"Well… er…" Jerry said in a nervous tone. "When I said I need a little help, I meant a lot of help. You see I never won a pokemon battle or anything. I'm a loser…"

Some of the spectators became surprised of his confession, but Black Jack wasn't one of them. "And my current losing streak is, like, 1000-0," Jerry continued.

Everyone became very shocked at that confession, even Black Jack's eyes widened. "You got to be kidding me, Jerry!" Alice said in disbelief.

"Let me get this straight," Black Jack started. "You've been training for four years and you never won a pokemon battle, let alone enter a league?"

Jerry ran over to him. "That's why I need your help, big guy!" he said as he fell to his knees and putting his hands together in a begging fashion. "Please! Please say yes, Black Jack! I'll do anything!"

Black Jack went down on one knee and smiled politely as he placed his hand on Jerry's shoulder. "Of course," he replied positively.

"Really?" Jerry asked in a hopeful tone.

"No," Black Jack replied as he changed his expression into a frown while he pushed Jerry away, making him fall on his back. "I think it's best for you quit now and work at a fast food restaurant."

"Black Jack…" Jerry whimpered softly as anime tears came flowing out of his eyes. "Without help, I'll always be a loser…"

Black Jack simply ignored him as he started walking away, along with his pokemon. "(Jack)," Metagross said in protest. "(You're can't just leave him there)."

"I already have," Black Jack replied. "Now let's get out of here before he or his Hitmonlee attempts to grab us by the legs."

Alice felt sorry for Jerry as she looked back at him while he remained on his back. "Uncle," she said walking up to him. "Can I stay here with Jerry for a couple of hours?"

Black Jack let out a small sigh. "Alright," he said. "But make sure that you get back to the pokemon center by six, okay?"

Alice nodded in agreement and headed back to Jerry's location. He was still lying on his back and mumbled various things, such as, "I'll always be loser…"

"Hey, Jerry," Alice said. "I'm sorry."

"About what?" Jerry said as he immediately stopped his crying and put on a moody face.

"Sorry that my uncle won't be able to help you out."

"It's okay," Jerry said as he sat up. "I'm used to it. Everyone rejects me."

"Everyone?" Alice said as she gave a small cheeky smile.

"Okay, not everyone," Jerry said, realising who Alice was referring to.

They talked about various things for hours since. "Er, Jerry," Alice said realising that. "What time is it?"

"It's ten to six," Jerry replied.

"I have to get going," Alice said. "I promised my uncle that I'd meet him at the pokemon center."

She got up and was about to walk away. "Hey, Jerry. Do you wanna come with me?" She asked.

"Nah," Jerry replied. "I got some thinking to do. After dat, I'm walking again."

"Where will you go?"

"Wherever life takes me."

Alice kneeled down and gave him a friendly hug. "I'm gonna miss you," she said as Jerry hugged her back. "I'll miss you too," he replied.

Alice soon released Jerry and walked away, holding back the tears as Jerry held back his.

As Jerry looked at the sea while thinking deeply, a mysterious figure walked up to him. Jerry heard the footsteps and quickly turned around…  
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More coming! Reviews please!


	4. Episode 1, Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Jerry quickly turned round and got up to look at the person sneaking up to him. "Hey! Who are you?" Jerry demanded.

The young teen Jerry was demanding to was wearing a black leather jacket, blue jeans, multi-coloured trainers and black fingerless gloves. He also had spiky blond hair and a bandanna was covering his mouth and nose.

"My name is Keith Marsden," the young teen replied as he took off the bandanna, showing his face. He had a pretty looking face, pretty enough for girls to have a crush on him, not that he cared.

"What the heck do you want?" Jerry demanded.

"Chill out, little guy," Keith replied coolly. "I only want to have a pokemon battle."

A small sweatdrop came flowing down on Jerry's forehead. "Oh no," he thought. "I can't afford another loss, not to this creep."

"What's the matter?" Keith asked, waiting for an answer. "Jigglypuff?"

"Me? Jigglypuff?" Jerry shouted, taking it as an insult. "No! I'm not a Jigglypuff! I just had a couple of tough battles today and they were real tough! And I'd appreciate it if you'd leave me alone!"

"Whatever," Keith said as he turned his back on him. "You're not worth my time anyway, puffy boy."

"Puffy boy?" Jerry yelled feeling insulted. "Say that to my face, ya limp noodle!"

Keith smiled as he turned to face him. "Care to make some conditions? Fine then. If you can beat me, you won't have to see me ever again. I'll beat you anyway but you won't be seeing much of me so I won't ask for any favours."

"I'm gonna beat your pokemon to a pulp!" Jerry said, still being angry.

"I think you've accepted my challenge," Keith said. "Fine by me."

Keith and Jerry took out their respective pokeball at the same and tossed them out. "Go!" they both cried.

A spitfire pokemon Magmar materialised when it became released from its pokeball that Keith threw out. "Magmar!" he yelled as he breathed out a lick of flame out of its beak. Jerry's Hitmonlee materialised when it came out of his pokeball, but there was one problem… it was still unconscious from his battle with Chan! "Yikes!" Jerry thought deeply when shock was showing on his face. "He's still unconscious!"

"What?" Keith thought in surprise. "Why would you send out a pokemon that's already unconscious?"

He then let out a small snigger, noticing how weak Jackie was and how stupid Jerry was. "Jerry," he said. "I know that some pokemon would recover some time after a battle but you should've known that you should give your Hitmonlee some time to do that."

"Wrong one, man!" Jerry yelled defensively. "Wrong one!"

He placed the pokemon back onto his belt and took out another one. "Go! Ratty!" he yelled as he tossed it out.

The pokeball opened, revealing a small brown furred rat. "Raticate!" he cried.

"Ratty!" Jerry yelled. "Use your Headbutt!"

Ratty quickly ran towards the fire type pokemon on his four feet and dived his head towards his abdomen.

"Dodge it, Magmar!" Keith ordered.

Magmar did exactly as he was ordered as he easily dodged the Raticate's incoming attack, much to Jerry's shock. "What the heck?" he said.

"Double Fire Punch!" Keith ordered, using Jerry's distraction to his advantage. Magmar lifted up both of his paws, engulfed them in flames and shaped them like a hammer. He then slammed them onto Ratty's back, knocking his front body first into the sand.

"One more Fire Punch should finish it off, Magmar," Keith said. "Use it now!"

"Oh no, you don't, Spiky!" Jerry yelled, noticing Magmar's flaming fist. "Ratty! Counter with Iron Tail!"

The Raticate's tail glowed brightly as he swiped his tail towards his opponent. "Watch yourself, Magmar!" Keith warned quickly.

Magmar saw the attack coming and leapt into the air. "Say what!" Jerry yelled in shock and disbelief.

"Withdraw your Fire Punch and use your Iron Tail!" Keith yelled.

Magmar immediately performed a rolling somersault while his tail glowed vigorously, slamming it on top of Ratty's head, making him scream in pain before coming unconscious.

"Ratty! No!" Jerry yelled in disbelief.

"So, whatever-your-name-is," Keith said confidently while Jerry zapped Ratty back into its pokeball. "Any more losers for Magmar to knock silly with?"

"It's Jerry, spike head," Jerry said as he took out another pokeball. "And this pokemon is gonna knock yours around silly." He tossed out his chosen pokeball. "Go! Amazon!"

A white mongoose-like pokemon with battle scars on different parts of her body materialised after being released from her pokeball. "A Zangoose, huh?" Keith commented. "Pretty rare around those parts… weak but rare."

"Funny!" Jerry yelled angrily while Amazon's eyes narrowed, as she didn't like hearing what Keith said either. "You're gonna be laughing on the other side of your face when Amazon beats ya! Amazon! Slash attack!"

The Zangoose leapt into the air and dived down towards the Spitfire Pokemon. "Magmar, dodge it," Keith commanded in a confident tone.

As Amazon was becoming inches away from slashing the face of her opponent, Magmar confidently stepped to one side making her claws hit the sand instead. She looked angrily at his direction as he got into his fighting stance. "How slow is your Zangoose?" Keith asked with criticism. "If you ask me which one's faster between your Zangoose and a random Slowpoke, I'd pick the pink dumbo any time."

"Say what?" Jerry shouted, not liking the insult. "You take that back!"

"I will… if you can beat me," Keith said, still with the smirk on his face.

"You ask for it! Amazon! Use your Crush Claw!"

But the Zangoose looked around, as though she was sniffing for something. "Er… Amazon?" Jerry said, looking confused.

She looked directly towards Keith and made a loud, angry hiss as she charged towards him. "Amazon! What are you doing? Magmar's the opponent here!" Jerry yelled.

"Magmar! Body Slam attack!" Keith commanded quickly. Magmar did as he was told as he leapt into the air and performed a somersault, landing his body on top of his opponent's.

Magmar jumped off Amazon's back. As the weakened Zangoose slowly got up to her hind legs, Magmar landed a hefty, fiery punch in her abdomen, sending her flying. Amazon became unconscious when she landed badly on her back. "Amazon! Darn it!" Jerry yelled as he ran towards her. "Why were you attacking Keith instead of Magmar?"

"I see that that Zangoose has strong sense of smell," Keith said as he placed his hand on one of the pokeballs that were attached to his belt. "And it smelt my Seviper."

He took out the pokeball out, enlarged with a touch of the device's button and released a black snake with different coloured patterns on different parts of his skin. "Wha…?" Jerry said in a confused tone.

"Sevipers and Zangoose had been enemies since probably the beginning of time, moron. How come you didn't know that?" Keith said with criticism.

"I did!" Jerry lied in defence. "I just er… forgot, that's all!"

"Yeah, whatever," Keith said, knowing that his opponent was lying. He returned his Seviper back into the pokeball, without noticing that the black snake was looking at the Zangoose in a curious manner. "Now, let's see what you can do… not much, I'm sure."

"This pokemon is gonna knock your Magmar all the way into next month," Jerry said as he tossed out his third pokeball. "Go! Bulko!"

A huge Snorlax materialised after being released from his pokeball, much to Keith's shock. "How did the dweeb catch a pokemon that rare?" Keith thought.

He decided to ignore his shock and pointed towards the over thousand pound pokemon. "Magmar," he said. "Fire Punch attack!"

Magmar nodded and jumped towards his opponent while a ball of flame engulfed around his clenched paw. He went to punch the Snorlax in the gut but as he did the paw became stuck because of fat skin of the opposition's stomach. "Magmar, pull the paw out," Keith instructed.

Magmar did his best to pull his paw out of Bulko's stomach but Bulk let out a loud growl, pushing the paw out of his thick belly, sending Magmar flying until he fell and harshly skid through the sandy ground. "Good going, Bulko!" Jerry yelled, thinking of his next attack. "Finish him off with Body Slam attack."

Bulko patted himself on the chest a couple of times before running and jumping into the air. Magmar looked up with fear in his eyes, knowing what was coming next. "Magamr! Out of the way!" Keith yelled.

But Magmar wasn't able to move because of his shock. He became crushed and flattened by the thunderous force of the Snorlax's huge and heavy body. A brief moment later after the sickening impact Bulko slowly picked himself up, revealing Magmar totally paralysed and unable to move.

"Alright!" Jerry yelled. "Thanks to Bulko here, I've invented a new kind of pancake! Haha! What do you say to that, flatline?"

"I'd say that your chance of winning against me is a flat line itself," Keith replied, still feeling confident, as he returned his Spitfire pokemon back into his pokeball.

He picked out another pokeball and tossed it out. "This pokemon is worth his name," he said. "Go! Darkness!"

A black dragon materialised standing on its small hind legs and yelled out his battle cry. "A… a Dragonite?" Jerry said in bewilderment. "But that thing's not normal. It's got black skin, black and blue devil-like wings and red eyes… what's going on here?"

"Scared, I take it, Jerry? You should be, this pokemon can eliminate every pokemon you have on you and I can prove it to you," Keith said. "Darkness! Hyper Beam attack!"

Darkness's eyes glowed red as he opened his mouth and quickly shot a strong light energy beam out of his mouth towards Bulko. Jerry and Bulko had no time to react against a devastating attack because of the shock they received when they saw the pokemon that Keith had released as the beam collided on the Snorlax, making an explosion upon impact.

Jerry had his eyes covered to protect them from the sand and the dust of the explosion. When the dust cleared, he turned his attention back to the battlefield only to find his Snorlax lying unconsciously on his front body meaning that he was no longer able to battle.

After Jerry returned his Snorlax back into his pokeball, he fell to his knees in defeat. "Darn it," he said to himself. "I've lost."

"That's it?" Keith said disappointedly as he returned his Dragonite back into his. "Three of your pokemon got knocked out and you give up already? I'm disappointed."

"I told you," Jerry replied, gnarling his teeth in frustration. "I had some tough battles today, okay?"

"Excuses," Keith replied back as he turned away from him. "Unless you want to disgrace your reputation as a pokemon trainer, never tell anyone what we did."

With that, he walked away and out of the scene. Jerry was still on his knees, feeling humiliated… not once but twice in one day. He badly needed help by one of the best pokemon trainers there was today but got turned down when he confessed that he never won a pokemon battle in the last four years of his life. He no longer had the strength or spirit left in him to go on training.

"Maybe I ought to call it quits and go home… become one of those guys who serves burgers and fries behind counters," he mumbled.

Suddenly, a gloved hand came into his view. He looked up and saw the person he asked for help before… Black Jack, who was showing his expressionless face. "Black Jack…" he said as tears of joy began to form in his eyes. "I thought you wasn't gonna help me."

"I'm not," Black Jack replied. "I was gonna ask if you have some spare change for gas for my motorbike."

"Oh," Jerry said in a down tone as he reached his hand down his pocket. "Well, I could help you out here…"

"Jerry, you're such an easy guy to pick on," Black Jack said while shaking his head. "Of course I've come back here to help you out."

"You are?" Jerry asked excitedly as he sprung to his feet feeling his spirit growing back while Black Jack withdrew his hand noticing that there was no need to help this young lad up. "But why?"

Black Jack let out a small sigh while shaking his head. "Look at you," he began. "I said no and you're still sitting here waiting for me. I refused to help you out at first because I thought you were wasting your time with your training. Now the only reason why I came back to help you is because you're going to be a challenge… and I like a challenge every now and again. But if you want to be my student, I'm gonna set up some rules."

"I'll follow anything!" Jerry said enthusiastically. "Even it means losing lunch every single day!"

"Believe me," Black Jack said. "You're probably gonna lose more than that."

With that, as they walked back to the pokemon center, Black Jack made some rules for Jerry not knowing how he would be coping with the passionate yet unintelligent underdog in future.

Next episode: Alice meets another old friend... and discovers more about him while they take a night out.  
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More coming! Reviews please!


	5. Bad, Bad Man

Found a theme song that may fit into this fic:

_**Bad, Bad Man by John Cena feat. Tha Trademarc and Bumpy Knuckles** _

John Cena (Speaking):  
Oh, you don' did it now!  
Chaos, you should have put this one in the vault, man!  
They not ready, they don't know what's coming man!  
Oh, we gonna drop this on them right here!  
Y'all aint ready for this! Y'all aint ready for none of this!

John Cena (Rapping):  
Your boy's a bad man, and we invading the streets.  
Make unclever rappers scurred, they be dropping the heat.  
Shocked the world, now I'm standing alone.  
I flip fools like them clamshell cellular phones.  
You can't help but nod your head to the track.  
(BEEP!) the watered down rap, we be taking it back.  
Give it to me straight, ain't no chasing it.  
Check yourself in the mirror, ain't no facing it.  
Cause you playing the role and you planning to fold.  
This the masterplan, we got the planet on hold.  
We all over the streets like your favorite sneaker.  
Breaking up your sound like a drive-through speaker.  
Everything that I be spitting is strong.  
After I rock, fast forward through the rest of this song.  
We the monkey wrench that's gonna ruin your plan.  
Don't (BEEP!) with John Cena, I'm a bad bad man.

All three (Chrous):  
With the mic in my hands, I'm a bad man.  
Even in a fight with my hands, I'm a bad man.  
Living in the streets all my life, I'm a bad man.  
I'm a bad man. I'm a bad man.

With the mic in my hands, I'm a bad man.  
Even in a fight with the hands, I'm a bad man.  
Living in the streets all my life, I'm a bad man.  
I'm a bad man. I'm a bad man.

Tha TradeMarc:  
We devils, rocking ambient levels.  
We set loose among hot tunes to instrumentals.  
And cats got one-liners, I drop several.  
Man I think its funny you choose losing progress.  
Running in place, we making moves, and y'all settle.  
I rip rappers and take responsibility  
for making future hall of famers look third rate.  
Y'all are loss for words like conversation on your worst first date.  
And ride beats, creep through side streets.  
loose leaf, notepads, that's where rhymes leak.  
Punchlines, man, don't even beg.  
I got knee-slapping tracks, y'all, bruising your leg.  
You a rhyme writer buddy, man, that's a joke.  
You aint worth of being my secretary man that's a quote.  
I flood tracks like cracks in boats.  
And (BEEP!) rappers chocked up with their own lines and they croak.

All three (Chrous):  
With the mic in my hands, I'm a bad man.  
Even in a fight with my hands, I'm a bad man.  
Living in the streets all my life, I'm a bad man.  
I'm a bad man. I'm a bad man.

With the mic in my hands, I'm a bad man.  
Even in a fight with the hands, I'm a bad man.  
Living in the streets all my life, I'm a bad man.  
I'm a bad man. I'm a bad man.

Bumpy Knuckles (Rapping):  
Turn up the microphone and see me, I'm a beast MC's and  
they beats is what I eat. Sixteen. I'll leave you in the street.  
My rhymes are sicker than gangrene on both feet.  
It's spreading up the leg and headed for the head.  
Your rhymes are whack, your style is proof that the brain corrosion  
is (BEEP!) with your chosen flows, I'm nice with mics.  
My hands'll break your nose like Mikey Tyson.  
Fighting in his prime, one rhyme.  
And I shake up the room one time.  
Boom to the jaw.  
Your face is a coat type raw.  
And the blood and snot they mix, jelly on the floor.  
My love is cop them bricks, belly on the floor.  
I rob you, you soft and you really ain't a problem.  
I solve you, 357 long nose revolve you.  
Acid in your face, bad look, dissolve you.  
I'm a bad, bad man

Bumpy Knuckles (Speaking):  
Yeah! check it out!  
It's Bumpy Knuckles, baby!  
And I want you to say hello to the bad bad man!  
C'mon!

All three (Chrous):  
With the mic in my hands, I'm a bad man.  
Even in a fight with my hands, I'm a bad man.  
Living in the streets all my life, I'm a bad man.  
I'm a bad man. I'm a bad man.

With the mic in my hands, I'm a bad man.  
Even in a fight with the hands, I'm a bad man.  
Living in the streets all my life, I'm a bad man.  
I'm a bad man. I'm a bad man.

Bumpy Knuckles (Speaking):  
Ain't gettin' on no plane!


	6. Episode 2, Chapter 1

Episode 2: Keith's secret

Chapter 1

A few days passed Black Jack took Jerry under his wing. Since then he trained him and his pokemon in a harsh way, much to the pokemon and Alice's concern.

It was a sunny afternoon in a park of Lilycove City and Black Jack, Alice and Jerry released their respective pokemon to enjoy it, except that Jerry and his pokemon were doing some exercises.

This time, Black Jack had Jerry and his pokemon do one hundred push-ups, with a strict rule that if Jerry or any of his pokemon dropped to the floor, they'd be told to start over… and that was just for a warm up.

As Black Jack often expected, Jerry kept on falling on his front every time he almost got to the target number. "(Something tells me that Jerry likes to do this)," Tyranitar growled to Nidoking, both were observing what was going on.

"(That or Jerry doesn't want to do any other exercises)," Nidoking replied. "(Jerry can't keep on like this forever)."

Black Jack looked at his wristwatch and noticed that this exercise had gone for over an hour. "Okay, Jerry," he called out. "Take ten."

Jerry and his pokemon fell on his belly and panted out heavily, so did his pokemon. "Thanks, boss," Jerry said breathlessly. Recently after Black Jack took Jerry in, Jerry continuously addressed him as the boss. Even though Black Jack didn't like his new nickname, it took him a while to get used to this because Jerry was so dense.

"I'm off to get some food from the drive-thru restaurant for our lunch," Black Jack said as he took his wallet out, handing over some money to Alice. "Alice, you get the usual groceries."

He then turned his attention towards Jerry but to his surprise he had already fallen asleep because of the tiredness from the exercise. "Jerry, you just sleep," Black Jack continued with a frown. "You guys have some rest too."

All of the pokemon present nodded in agreement while Black Jack and Alice walked off in separate directions. While they were gone, Feraligatr couldn't but help but stare at Jerry and Tyranitar noticed it. "(What are you thinking about, Feraligatr?)" the green dinosaur growled.

"(Have you got a marker pen on you?)" Feraligatr growled in a cheeky tone, with a mischievous smile.

"(You never stop, do you?)" Tyranitar growled, knowing what Feraligatr's plan was. "(Too bad, no one has it on them)."

Soon, they noticed a small pink balloon creature with a cute looking face walking down on Jerry. "(A Jigglypuff)?" the two pokemon thought in unison. They then spotted the microphone that the Jigglypuff was holding. Feraligatr grabbed Tyranitar by the shoulder and whispered in his ear.

"(Tyranitar)," Feraligatr growled softly. "(Is this the Jigglypuff that literally puts everyone to sleep with her singing?)"

Tyranitar nodded, signalling a yes to Feraligatr's question. "(And then she scribbles on their faces)," he continued as a sweat drop slowly slid down on the side of his head.

But Ferligatr felt confident as he walked up to the little Jigglypuff, who looked up in a curious way and then became very happy when she saw him. "(Yippee!)" the Jigglypuff cried happily. "(A new audience!)"

Feraligatr face of confidence became a face of shock. "(Wait a minute)!" he snarled. "(I want to ask you a favour)!"

The Jigglypuff became puzzled of what Feraligatr's favour was. "(If you let me borrow your microphone for a minute or so, I'll listen to your singing, okay?)" Feraligatr growled.

"(Okay)," the Jigglypuff replied. "(What kind of favour?)"

Meanwhile, at Alice's location, she entered a grocery store and bought some food and supplies for future travelling. When she came out, she heard a bell ringing loudly and she looked across the road. She saw a bank being robbed as thieves wearing pirate like clothing and masks carrying sacks of cash running towards a getaway car.

One of them spotted Alice observing the scene while the other innocent bystanders ran away in fear. He took a gun out of his gun belt and aimed the weapon at her. "(Oh no)," Alice thought in realisation. "(I have no pokemon on me. Even if I did, I wouldn't risk them)."

The thief shot a bullet out of the gun. As the bullet came inches closer to her, a young teen tackled her down, not only save her from the bullet but he also saved himself.

The thief cursed his bad luck as he quickly got inside the getaway car. As they got away, the young man got up and helped Alice get to her feet. "That was a close one," the teen said.

"Thanks," Alice said. "Although I was going to dodge the bullet myself."

"Not from where I was standing."

Alice looked at the young man in the face and her eyes became widened with surprise. "Hey, wait a minute… Keith?" she asked.

"How… how did you know my name?" Keith asked in a surprised tone.

"It's me… Alice," she replied. "You once saved me from those bullies, remember?"

Keith's eyes became widened as he began to remember.

-Flashback-

A little girl, who had blond hair, a small scar underneath her left eye and was wearing a blue dress, was strolling through a park holding a candy bar when three boys, who were twice her size and were wearing everyday clothing, came round to bully her. "Give us you're candy, kid!" one of the bigger kids yelled.

The little girl was frightened inside but she had the courage to yell out, "no way!"

The bullies began bullying her and snatched the candy bar from her. "Give it back to me!" she cried.

One of the bullies held the candy bar up in the air so that the little girl wouldn't reach it, no matter how high she jumped. She gave up as she fell to her knees and started to cry.

"Give it back to her!" shouted another kid's voice. "Or else!"

The bullies and the little girl turned to the voice's direction and saw a little blond boy who was slightly taller than the girl. The bullies all started laughing at him.

"Or else what?" shouted one of the bullies.

"Or else I will have to take it from you!" the blond boy shouted in replied as he charged towards the three bullies.

"No! Don't!" the girl cried.

The boy took down one of the bullies in a tackle to grab the candy back. But the other bullies retaliated and started stomping on him. Soon all of three of them were stomping on him.

"Did you really think you can beat the three of us, pipsqueak?" shouted one of the bullies.

"Maybe this kid can't, but I can," said a voice. The bullies turned round to see a six-foot ten, bearded man wearing black leather clothing and sunglasses. They recognised him straight away.

"Bl-Black Jack!" they cried in a frightened tone.

"When you pick on people that way, you disrespect me and the way people want to live," Black Jack said. "And I have no tolerance for bullies, especially when they pick on my niece."

The bullies realised that they were picking Black Jack's niece. They started saying their excuses as they backed away from him.

"Oh, we didn't know that she was your niece!"

"Of course we didn't! I mean we wouldn't bully Black Jack's niece!"

"And we won't pick on another little girl again, ever! Honest!"

"Hold it right there!" Black Jack said stopping them from running away. "You boys weren't thinking of getting away that easily, were you?"

The bullies stopped and gulped. "Let me show you how it feels like to be bullied," said Black Jack, as his eyes widened like an evil maniac. "I'm challenging all of you to a pokemon battle, here and now!"

"Huh?" said the boys in a surprised tone.

"With one condition, you three must use all of your pokemon you have on you, while I use all of mine."

The bullies gathered round each other and whispered to each other. Soon, the boys looked at Black Jack bravely. "Fine," said one of the boys. "But we're warning you, you're setting yourself up for a fall."

They took out all of their pokeballs and tossed them out. They only had three pokemon each and they were a fluffy bug ball known as Venonat, a red lizard called Charmeleon, a purple floating ball with poisonous gas coming out from different parts of its body called Koffing, a grey muscular human-like creature known as Machoke, an insect pokemon Beedrill, a boxing pokemon called Hitmonchan, a vicious bird called Spearow, a cactus-like pokemon called Cacnea, and a blackbird called Murkrow.

After they have shown their pokemon, Black Jack's face turned from a serious frown into a maniacal smile. "Only three pokemon each?" he said. "My one pokemon can take you all out, but I don't want the others to miss the fun.

He tossed all of his six pokemon, which were Tyranitar, Feraligatr, Nidoking, Metagross, Salamence and Blaziken. The bullies and their pokemon looked at them with fear in their eyes. "C'mon, you guys," said one of them. "We can beat them, there's nine of our pokemon altogether and only six of them."

"As far as I'm concerned, you're all outnumbered," Black Jack replied. "Get 'em!"

All of Black Jack's pokemon ran at the scared pokemon of the bullies and beaten them with ease. Seeing all damage that Black Jack's pokemon caused, the bullies fell on their backside and started shaking in fear.

"That will do, you little brats," Black Jack said smugly as he and his pokemon walked passed them. "That will do."

"Are you okay?" the girl asked in a worried tone.

"Yeah, I'm okay," the boy replied, even though he felt a small jolt of pain when he tried to get up. "Ow!"

Black Jack and his pokemon walked over to them and handed the candy bar back to her. "Thanks for helping my niece out, kid," Black Jack said to the boy. "From the looks of you, you are a tough little hombre, just like me."

The boy looked up at Black Jack and gasped. He was actually meeting Black Jack in person. "Thanks, Mr. Black Jack," he said.

"What's your name, kid?"

"Keith. Keith Marsden."

With that reply, Black Jack showed a small smile.

-End Flashback-

"I remember now," Keith said, offering to shake her hand. "Nice to see you again."

"Same here," Alice said as she accepted the offer. As they touched, they felt a jolt of electricity flowing through them. There was an awkward silence between them when suddenly…

"Hey! What happened here?" yelled a man's voice. Keith and Alice turned their attention towards a man who yelled. It turned out to be Black Jack running into the scene, carrying a paper bag full of food for lunch. "I heard a gunshot," he said. "Alice, are okay?"

"I'm fine, uncle," Alice replied, in an assuring tone. "Thanks to this guy."

Black Jack turned his attention to Keith and it took a short second to recognise him. "Hey, you're the kid who helped my niece out five years ago," he said. "How are things, kiddo?"

"Nothing much," Keith replied with a forced smile on his face. "Just have a few battles here and there, living my own life, that kind of thing."

"Not taking part in leagues, I see."

"Well, let's just say I like to remain anonymous."

As Black Jack turned his attention back to Alice, he noticed the mess on the floor and realised that it must the groceries that she dropped. "Man! Not my beer," Black Jack moaned when he saw spilt alcohol and smashed beer bottles on the floor.

"Shoot! Sorry about that," Keith said apologetically. "I must've made her drop some of the goods when I saved her from those criminals."

"Did you know what they look like?" Black Jack asked as he and the others crouched down to pick the goods that weren't broken.

"They kinda looked like pirates, uncle," Alice replied, feeling suspicious about the criminals. "I think we might've seen or met them before…"

"I think you might be right there," Black Jack replied, also feeling suspicious.

Keith remained silent as he listened intently to the conversation between his new acquaintances. As he listened, he was about to pick up one of the last items, which was a banana, but another hand grabbed it first and he accidentally touched the hand. He looked at the hand's owner and saw that Alice was the one getting the fruit.

He slightly blushed and quickly took his hand away from hers as Alice picked the banana. "Sorry," he said shyly.

"That's okay," Alice said, placing the banana back into the grocery bag.

"Okay, that's the last," Black Jack said, placing the last unharmed object in the bag. "Let's back to Jerry… I bet Feraligatr's picking on him as usual."

Keith noticed that Black Jack didn't see the 'touching' moment between him and Alice and wondered what would happen if he did see it. "Thanks for helping us out," Black Jack said as he and his niece began to walk away with their goods. "See you around."

"Alice, wait a second," Keith said, catching their attention. They waited for some time to listen to what he wanted to say. Keith breathed in and out, trying to calm his nerves before he could talk…

Meanwhile, back at the park, Feraligatr was finishing off drawing various scribbles on Jerry's face, using the Jigglypuff's marker pen while his friends were trying hard to not laugh to wake Jerry up.

"(There)," Feraligatr said as he gave Jigglypuff her pen back.

"(Nice pictures there)," Jigglyuff commented while nodding and giggling. "(Can I sing you a song now?)"

"(Yeah, about that…)" Feraligatr growled awkwardly. He quickly kicked the balloon pokemon up into the air while she cried until she got out of sight.

"(Feraligatr)!" Tyranitar snarled loudly as he didn't like what he saw. "(That was unnecessary)!"

"Hmm?" Jerry mumbled as he woke up to the green dinosaur's loud voice. "What's going on here?"

As he got up to his feet, he found Black Jack, Alice and the pokemon looking at him in the face. Most of them started laughing at him while others held back. "What's so funny?" Jerry asked being puzzled.

"Nothing," Black Jack replied while holding back the eagerness to laugh. "Just don't look in the mirror."

That left Jerry in a puzzled state as he scratched his head. "And don't eat a banana while you're doing that," Black Jack said, confusing Jerry even more.  
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	7. Episode 2, Chapter 2

Chapter 2

That evening, Alice was in a spare apartment of the pokemon center that her group was staying for some time. The room had two beds, a desk with a mirror on top of it, and a small bathroom. Originally, the two beds were for Alice and her uncle Black Jack, but since Jerry joined the group Black Jack gave his bed up to him since he doesn't sleep.

She sat at the desk and was looking at the mirror while brushing her shoulder length hair wearing her usual attire and noticed Jerry walking in with a tired look on his face. Exhausted, he fell on top of his bed with his face on the pillow.

"Hey, Jerry," Alice said with a smile on her face.

"Hey," Jerry muffled in a tired voice. "What'cha doin'?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I have to go soon."

Jerry slowly turned his head towards Alice. "Oh? Meeting someone?" he asked as Alice tied her hair into a ponytail.

"Yeah, Keith Marsden."

"What?" Jerry yelled in an alarmed way as he quickly sat up on his bed. "That guy's a jerk!"

"Hey?" Alice responded in a confused tone.

"I battled him the other night, before the boss took me in," Jerry said while moving his hands, expressing his feelings towards that past battle. "He told me he was Keith himself!"

Alice began questioning Jerry about Keith's appearance such as the clothes he wore and what colour and style his hair had. And each question Jerry answered matched the young teen that Alice had been hanging around with.

"Jerry, Keith was probably putting his game face on when he was battling with you," Alice said theoretically. "My uncle's always like that."

"Alice, as your best friend, I'm begging you, don't…"

Jerry suddenly fell asleep and collapsed on his bed due to the exhaustion from the long and tiring training that Black Jack gave him all day. "Poor Jerry," Alice thought to herself in concern as she covered the blanket over her friend. "Training all day and night."

As she got to the door, she looked back at Jerry. "Goodnight, Jerry," she whispered to herself. "I'll keep everything in mind."

Downstairs in the main hall of the Pokemon Center, Black Jack was sitting on one of the benches reading a newspaper. As he read, he heard sliding doors opening and some footsteps coming towards him but he didn't look up from his paper. "Hey, Keith," he said, sounding as though he was expecting him.

"How did you know it was me?" Keith asked sounding quite surprised.

"Well, you did say that you'd meet Alice here," Black Jack replied as he placed the newspaper aside. "Y'know, it's kinda weird when you save a man's niece and then ask her out on a date."

"Er… it's not a date," Keith replied in defence. "It's just two friends going to a non-fancy restaurant to have dinner, have a nice little chat and not kissing."

"Uh-huh, sure," Black Jack replied in an unconvinced tone while nodding his head.

They noticed someone coming their way and turned their attention to that person. It was Alice, who was wearing her everyday clothing. "Hi, Keith," she said smiling.

"Hi," Keith replied back, blushing slightly. "You look… nice."

"Thanks," Alice replied back, now also blushing a tinted pink. "Ready?"

"Yep, ready."

As they walked away they said and waved Black Jack their goodbyes. "Be careful out there," Black Jack replied. As Alice and Keith walked out of the center, Black Jack had a small smile on his face noticing how grown up his niece had become. "My brother's daughter…" he said softly to himself.

Alice and Keith walked down the streets of Lilycove City. There was an awkward quietness between for a few minutes them but Alice spoke. "So, Keith," she said. "Where are we going?"

"Nothing special," Keith replied. "It's just a fast food restaurant."

"That's okay. As long as there's no trouble going around, that's fine."

But as they walked down the road, they were unaware that they were being spied upon as a shadowy figure, wearing a black cloak that covered all over his body, was staring down on them from the top of a nearby building. "That Keith…" he grumbled. "Why is he with that girl?"

After some time walking, Alice and Keith got to their destination but discovered that it was almost completely packed. "A lot of people here," Keith said noticeably. "At least there's no queue."

"I got an idea," Alice said. "How about we take the food as a takeaway and eat in the park?"

"Yeah, good idea," Keith replied as he placed his hand on his stomach. "I'm getting pretty hungry anyway."

Somewhere, in a dark room with various controllers, a number of people in blue pirate clothing were looking through different monitors. In the center of the room stood a six-foot five, medium built man wearing blue jeans, black jacket with a stripy blue and white t-shirt underneath, and a blue bandanna on his head. He had a scar shaped like a cross on his right cheek and an eye patch on his left eye. He looked down on a cloaked figure with anger in his eyes.

"You're sure?" he snarled.

"Positive," the cloaked man replied. "I saw it with my own eyes."

"That brat cannot betray us!" the man snarled.

Meanwhile, Black Jack was resting on the roof with a bottle of beer next to him. He was thinking some random thoughts. His pokemon were resting in the pokemon center.

"Hey, Black Jack," sent a girly voice. Black Jack sat up in surprise and looked around and saw two Gardevoirs standing next to each other, holding paws. One of them had a scar in the middle of her face. Black Jack became slightly surprised when he saw them.

"Hey, Sonya, Orion," Black Jack said, recognising them. "I guess that means that Cassandra and Wally must've brought you guys here."

Five years ago, Black Jack and a young girl named Cassandra had a short rivalry because of their attitudes between each other. But after they defeated a street gang called the Rocket Revengers, they began to respect for each other.

Some time later after that, Cassandra discovered that her Gardevoir, Sonya, fell in love with Wally's Gardevoir, Orion. After some convincing, Sonya had the courage to confess her feelings towards Orion, which he admitted that he fell for her too and they had been dating ever since.

"(We're on holiday as you can tell, Black Jack)," Orion sent. "They're on a date tonight, though they don't like to admit it."

"You guys trained hard to speak into people's minds," Black Jack said. "Can we have a little chat or are you guys on a date as well?"

"(We're just floating about)," Sonya sent. "(Sure we can stay and chat…)"

Meanwhile, Alice and Keith were eating their takeaway dinner as they looked up to the dark skies, watching the stars.

"Hey, look," Alice said pointing to a bunch. "That looks like a baby Pichu. See that small zigzag tail and the medium sized ears?

"Yeah," Keith said noticeably and then spotted another bunch that displayed another shaped. "Hey! Those shapes look like two Arcanines killing each other just for a scrap of meat."

Keith let out a small laugh while Alice looked awkwardly at him. "I never done this before," Keith said.

"My folks and I do this a lot," Alice said. "My uncle once told me that stars like those tell stories. Like those two Arcanines you spotted, they're not fighting over a scrap of meat. If I remember correctly that's the story about an Arcanine called Ranger, who wanted to leave his group of his own kind to be with his mate Katrina, who came from another group of Arcanines and Growlithes. 

"But the bad leader of that group, called Wildfire, wouldn't have that because she came from another group and they got into a fight, which was a long and bad one. Katrina didn't want to see her mate get hurt anymore and got in Wildfire's way. 

"Wildfire was about kill her instead but another Arcanine from Katrina's group and saved her and Ranger from them in a nick of time. They welcomed him into the group and accepted him as one of their own. It's kinda romantic and heart warming if you think about it, right, Keith?"

"Yeah," Keith replied uneasily. "Nice story."

"Something wrong, Keith?" Alice asked, sensing some negatives feelings from him.

"I've been wondering…" Keith started, and then he let out a small sigh as he turned his head away from her, sounding like he had given up like something wasn't worth it. "No, it's nothing."

"Keith," Alice said as she placed her hand on his shoulder, unaware that that made him blush a small tinted pink colour on his face. "What's wrong? You can tell me."

"It's just that for the past few years, I…" Keith started again but then stopped. He let out another sigh. "It's nothing…" he said as he moved her hand away from him. "I gotta go."

Keith got up to his feet and started walking away but Alice couldn't let her friend go feeling saddened with an unknown reason. "Keith, wait," Alice called loudly yet softly.

Keith stopped and looked back towards Alice, looking at her sad face. He slowly turned away from her and was about to walk away again but he spotted a few suspicious shadowy figures coming towards him. "What the…" he thought.

He quickly turned round and saw Alice looking the other way, spotting a few more shadowy figures coming towards them. Soon, they discovered that they were being surrounded. As the figures came closer and closer, the colours of their clothing became more visible. They were wearing pirate-like clothing such as blue bandannas and blue and white stripy t-shirts.

"Well, well… at last, we meet Lisa Hummingburg," said one the pirates as she stepped forward, much to Lisa's surprise. She was standing at least six-foot tall and had long red hair, wore long blue trousers, black high heeled boots, blue and white stripy t-shirt with a blue vest over it, and a blue bandanna on her head.

"How did she know my name?" Alice asked herself in thought as she and Keith stood back to back.

"What are you doing out here? And so alone?" the woman asked in an evil tone. She then looked at Keith. "Well, Keith," she said. "Been looking for more grunts to do the dirty work for you or are you planning on leaving us?"

"What? Keith, is she saying…" Alice asked, noticing something suspicious is going on.

Keith was about to explain but the woman yelled everyone that sided with her to attack Alice. Everyone lobbed out their pokeballs and released their pokemon, which turned out that they were all water types such as Walerins, Cloysters and Golducks.

Alice took out two pokeballs off her belt. "Big Brother! Glacia!" she yelled as she tossed them out. "Let's go!"

Her two pokeballs released a huge brown bear with a ring on his midsection and a small yet fierce black weasel with claw-like paws.

Keith also took out two pokeballs of his own. "Umbreon! Alakazam! Go!" Keith yelled as he tossed them out, releasing a small black dog with ring patterns on different parts of his body and a mystical creature holding a spoon on each paw. "Unless you and your lackeys want to avoid pain, Ruth, I suggest you leave us alone for good!" Keith yelled towards the opposition. "I'm not part of you anymore!"

"Keith?" Alice thought in shock and concern. "Was he a part of this team?"

"You dare betray us?" Ruth yelled. "Very well, we have showed you what it's like to betray the team that you belong to… Team Ocean!"

"Team Ocean…" Alice thought as she listened intently. "I gotta warn my uncle about them… if I can get out of this alive."

"I belong to nobody!" Keith yelled.

"I knew you'd be stupid enough to fight against us, you fool," Ruth said. "Attack!"

Everyone yelled out their attack commands to their respective pokemon, engaging in a hectic battle. For Keith, Alice and their pokemon, they were in for a fight of their lives.   
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	8. Episode 2, Chapter 3

Chapter 3

All of the members of Team Ocean, present, ordered their pokemon to attack Alice, Keith and their pokemon while they had no choice but to defend themselves.

"Big Brother! Glacia!" Alice yelled. "Double Slash attack!"

The Ursaring and the Sneasel yelled their battle cries as they ran towards them. Glacia, being the quicker of the two, leapt on top of Big Brother's shoulder and then leapt into the air, confusing their opponents. Using this to their advantage, Glacia dived down towards the pokemon that were focusing on the bear, while Big Brother attacked those that got confused.

"Nice double team there, Alice," Keith commented with a smile.

"Well, as long as you got a great pokemon and strategy you're bound to do something good," Alice replied with a wink.

"Time to show mine," Keith said. "Alakazam! Use your Pysbeam attack!"

A green aura surrounded Alakazam's body as he began to focus his energy and blasted out a green beam towards the opposition, knocking them into confusion.

"Way to go!" Keith yelled. "Umbreon! Use your Swift attack!"

The black dog leaped into the air and the ring patterns on his body glowed energetically as he shot out small energy stars out of his mouth, which hit some of the grunts staggering them.

"Big Brother! Glacia! Get out of there!" Alice yelled.

Big Brother, with his great strength, managed to fend off the pokemon of Team Ocean and get away from them while Glacia struggled to get away but luckily Big Brother bashed his way through to save her and carried her back at a safe distance.

Four of Team Ocean's Tentacruels stepped towards and shot numerous energetic spikes out of their mouths towards their opponents. "Poison Sting attacks!" Keith warned.

"Dodge out of the way!" Keith and Alice yelled in unison. Their pokemon obeyed as they quickly dodge the attack, as did they when the attack was coming towards as they quickly ducked down.

Unluckily for Keith that attack was a decoy as one of Ocean's Walerines rushed and tackled him, sending him flying until his head and back hit the tree. Alice became distracted and yelled out to Keith but he wasn't able to respond because he was unconscious. She then looked back towards the battle scene and saw that her pokemon were struggling against the opposition.

Noticing that their trainer was unable to move, Alakazam and Umbreon ran over to him and tried to wake their trainer up but to no avail as the enemy continued attacking them, not allowing them to fight back.

Alice was in deep trouble as her pokemon were continuously being attacked by Team Ocean. With her partner unconscious and his pokemon left beaten, the numbers game have caught up with her. Realising how badly hurt that Big Brother and Glacia were getting, she quickly took out two pokeballs.

As she was about to toss them out to release her creatures to help Big Brother and Glacia she got knocked down by a charging Cloyster.

She fell harshly to the ground and shook away the dizziness only to be hit by a Poison Sting attack from one of Team Ocean's Tentacruels. "Well, boys," Ruth said. "Let's show her what happens what it feels to be hit by pokemon… especially when they're from Team Ocean." With that, all of the pokemon of Team Ocean began pounding unmercifully on her while the human members watched with cold eyes and smiles.

Meanwhile, Keith slowly moved, shaking his head to remove the dizziness. When he came to, he saw Alice, being badly hurt by Team Ocean and their pokemon while his pokemon lay on the ground unconscious and heavily injured.

He took out his third pokeball and tossed it out, releasing his black Dragonite. Curious of what was going on he looked towards the battle scene and then down on Keith, who was getting to his feet. "Darkness," Keith said. "Get Alice and her pokemon out of here, I'll hold them off."

Darkness became shocked of Keith's instructions and shook his head, refusing to obey them. "I'll be fine," Keith said while he returned his pokemon back into their pokeballs, knowing that his Dragonite doesn't want him to risk his life. "I got three other pokemon left to help me. Just do it!"

Darkness became hesitant but he stretched his wings and flew at the speed of light towards the members, knocking them down in an attempt to grab Alice, Glacia and Big Brother. As he did, he flew off into the sky carrying the badly injured Alice and Glacia in his arms and Big Brother holding onto his back.

"Whatever you do, don't look back!" Keith yelled loudly, hoping that Darkness was able to hear him. He then turned around and saw members of Team Ocean giving malicious looks while he looked back in hatred.

Back at the pokemon center, Black Jack walked around the main hall of the pokemon center with hands behind his back while the Gardevoirs sat on the benches, their backs next to the walls, looking at him in curiosity.

"What's keeping Alice?" Black Jack asked himself. "I told them to be back here by ten earlier today when he asked her out."

"(Don't worry, Black Jack,)" Sonya sent in an assuring tone. "(So what? She's gonna be a little bit late at some point. I mean what could happen)?"

"(Yeah, it's not like she's dealing with a couple of muggers)," Orion sent.

"You two don't go out much, do you?" Black Jack asked in response.

He looked outside his window and saw a black dragon flying towards the center and spotted Alice and Glacia in his arms and Big Brother on his back. His eyes widened with shock. "Alice!" he said loudly as he rushed outside, followed by the Gardevoirs.

As he got outside, Darkness safely landed to the ground. He placed Alice on the ground and she rushed towards him and started to hug him as tears began to form in her eyes while her pokemon ran to comfort her. "Alice," Black Jack said in a concerned tone. "What happened?"

"Uncle…" Alice sobbed. "I'm sorry… it's Keith…"

Back at the park, Keith was being held at by the arms by two men, making him immobile, and was getting battered, bloodied and bruised by his 'teammates'.

"That's enough, boys," Ruth said, holding her hands out, stopping her men from attacking him. "Hold him up."

She walked a distance closer to him and then slapped him on the face. Keith slowly looked back with a look of hate on his face. "I recognise that face," Ruth said. "We had a feeling that you would betray us again sooner or later."

"I never wanted to team up with you freaks anyway," Keith growled.

"You owe us, Keith. Remember our deal? We would tell you when you are through and you're not even close," Ruth said arrogantly as she backslapped him on the cheek.

"You punks!" Keith said. "I worked hard enough to take a trip to Hawaii."

"Hawaii's not on schedule," Ruth said as she took out a knife out of her sheath attached to her belt. "But if you wish I can send you to hell."

She raised her knife above her head and then quickly moved it, aiming for his forehead. "Ow!" yelled a voice, immediately stopping Ruth's attack. They looked at the direction where the voice was heard and it turned out that one of the grunts' was rubbing his hurt head. He looked down and saw an empty beer bottle. "Hey, where did this come from?" he asked.

"Behind you!" snarled a familiar angry man's voice. Everyone looked into the man's direction and it turned out to be Black Jack, accompanied by his 'young cub', Darkness, the Gardevoirs and his pokemon. "You think you can pick on my niece and get away with it? It looks like you did a lot of damage on her and now it's time I do the same…" he cracked his fist into the palm of his hand and then cracked his other fist. "Only heavier."

"I doubt that," Ruth said. "We, of Team Ocean, plan to capture all of the strong water pokemon trainers and the rarest water pokemon on the planet. I see that you have met one of our former comrades, Keith Marsden. He and his father owe us a little favour and made them follow our orders."

"Team Ocean?" Black Jack said. "Sounds like a rip-off version of Team Aqua that Ketchum beaten up years ago." Without waiting for a response he and his pokemon, plus the two Gardevoirs and Darkness, got into battle against Team Ocean.

As the battle started Black Jack and the pokemon that sided with him, using physical force, were knocking down all of the grunts and their pokemon. After they were all knocked down, Black Jack and his teammates looked at each other and nodded, splitting up into different directions.

Chan the Blaziken came close to his chosen victims and got into his fighting stance. The Ocean grunts and their pokemon slowly picked themselves up, surrounding him. One of them attempted to attack him from behind but the red fiery fighter sensed it coming and quickly turned around while kicking him in the face. The other grunts tried to attack him as well but the Blaziken countered each and every one of them with his quick and vicious kicks. He looked around to see how many were left standing. As he was about to choose his next couple of opponents, another standing grunt came charging towards him from behind but he countered him with his back fist punch, yelling out his battle cry, without turning around, knocking him out.

Feraligatr was knocking down each and every one that was on Team Ocean's side that attempted to attack him. "(Hey! Feraligatr)!" his friend Nidoking called, catching his attention. "(Tag me! Tag me)!"

Feraligatr turned his attention towards his Poison Drill friend, who was holding the grunt from behind by the arms. The blue crocodile walked over to him and tagged him by the paw and then punched the grunt in the stomach, making him fall the ground withering in pain.

On another part of the battlefield, Metagross was using its psychic powers to make his victims float in the air and unable to move. The grunts and the pokemon looked up and saw the blue dragon Salamance and the black dragon Darkness flying above them and saw what was coming next as they had cold sweat drops on their faces. As expected, Salamance and Darkness stopped flapping their wings and fell at a great height, crashing down on top of their enemies and squashing them onto the ground.

Meanwhile, another bunch of grunts and their pokemon were pounding on Orion and Sonya while Tyranitar and Black Jack knocked down another grunt, they saw that their Psychic comrades were in trouble. The green dinosaur quickly walked ahead of Black Jack and kneeled down with his head leaning forward. Black Jack saw what his pokemon's intention was as he quickly ran up towards him from behind and leapt on his shoulder; he then leapt off and crash-landed on top of his enemies, not only knocking them but his teammates down as well. "(Lucha libre)!" his Nidoking roared excitedly after he saw the stunt Black Jack performed.

As the battling continued, despite Team Ocean's strength in numbers, the pokemon that sided with Black Jack were dominating against them. Realising this, half of grunts ran away while the others stayed and got beaten in the process.

Black Jack and his pokemon looked around to see if there was anyone else standing. "Jeez, there's always one left when we think we're done," Black Jack said in an annoyed tone as he looked at Ruth, standing behind the weakened Keith while holding a knife by his throat.

"Step any closer and the boy dies," Ruth threatened as she stepped away from them while holding him.

"You're a little late to say that, aren't you?" said a young girl's voice.

Before Ruth could react, a familiar pair of hands grabbed her wrist that was holding the knife. As they struggled to gain control of the knife, Ruth accidentally let Keith go as he fell to floor.

Black Jack quickly ran towards them to help Alice but she made Ruth drop the knife before he could. He stopped and stood where he was, looking at Alice's angry face while she glared angrily at the now scared Ruth.

Ruth held her hands out towards her. "Don't… don't hit me," she begged. "I'm just leaving."

She took a step away from her… and then aimed to slam her fist on her face. But Alice blocked her punch with her hand and then slapped her in the face with the other, staggering her. Ruth became stunned and shocked for a brief second and turned her angry face towards her. "You slapped me?" she shouted. "No one slaps me!"

She was about to attack Alice again but Black Jack grabbed her from behind, he forcefully turned her around and headbutted her on the forehead, knocking her down. After shaking off the dizziness off her head, Ruth placed her hand inside her pocket and took out a mirror. She was horrified when she saw a huge purple bruise on her forehead that Black Jack inflicted. "My face…" she sobbed. "My beautiful face… don't you know how to treat a lady?"

"I do," Black Jack replied. "But for you I'm making an exception. Now get out!"

Ruth took her chance to escape as she ran out of the scene, leaving Black Jack with a nasty look on his face. He then turned and saw Alice kneeling down towards Keith, who was badly injured.

"Keith," Alice whispered sadly. "Are you okay?"

Keith let out a small groan in response as he struggled to move. "It's okay," he said. "I'll live."

Black Jack moved towards them, still with a nasty look on his face as he stared down on Keith and Alice noticed it.

"He… he saved me, uncle…" Alice said, sounding slightly scared. "And…"

Black Jack moved his hand towards Keith, offering to help him up. "Get on your feet, kid," he said.

"Huh?" Keith muttered, unsure of what Black Jack's intentions were.

"I said get up, kid!" Black Jack said loudly, assuming that Keith did not hear him properly the first time. "Get up!"

Keith quickly grasped Black Jack's hand and Black Jack pulled him up so that he could stand upright with Alice helping him. "Let me help you get to the pokemon center, Keith," Alice said as she wrapped his arm around her shoulders, attempting to help him stand upright. "It's the least I can do."

Keith looked at her concerned face and gave a small nod, allowing her to carry him to the pokemon center. She struggled to help him walk to the pokemon center; despite her weak and hurt body she had a strong heart and soul.

Black Jack noticed this and grabbed hold of Keith and hoisted him on his shoulder. "What are you doing, uncle?" Alice asked.

"This way, Keith doesn't have to walk and you can take it easy," Black Jack replied.

"Actually, I feel kinda oozy," Keith said feeling his gut being slightly squeezed.

Meanwhile, somewhere in a dark room a familiar man looked down on Ruth with a disappointed look on his face. "Ruth, I'm disappointed," he said. "You allowed that brat to be free from our grasp… now he's in the hands of Black Jack."

"Yes, sir," Ruth said with her head hanging low. "Even though I wish for it, I know I cannot be forgiven… I'm ready to receive my punishment."

"Silence. You are already punished at the hands of Black Jack when he humiliated you and headbutted you in the head," the man said. "To him, this is a warning to you and he could do much worse plus this is the first time you failed me. Therefore, I shall spare you this time. Now leave."

"Thank you, sir," she said. Still feeling ashamed, she made her way out of the room. After she left, the man stood where he was. "Keith's betrayal and Black Jack's interference were not part of the original plan… but maybe… maybe…"

Next episode: Alice enters a pokemon contest that features three of the most difficult judges to impress. Can she win it? Wait and see.

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EDIT:

A/N: In memory of Eddie Guerrero, 1967-2005


	9. Episode 3, Chapter 1

**Episode 3: Contest Washout**

**Chapter 1**

It was a few days since Keith left Team Ocean to join Black Jack's group. Jerry didn't like the idea at first but it took him time to get used to it when he noticed how concerned Alice was. During Keith's days of recovery, Black Jack was looking for a two-seated sidecar that he would place next his motorcycle while Alice, Jerry, Cassandra, Wally and the pokemon kept Keith company while he was resting in on his hospital bed. While they did, they couldn't help but wonder what Team Ocean would do next.

At one point, while they kept Keith company, Black Jack made his entrance announcing that he found and bought the sidecar for the motorcycle.

He looked down at the recovering Keith. "So, kid," he said. "What's your story with Team Ocean?"

Concerned faces appeared on the faces on his 'cubs' and 'acquaintances', feeling that Keith may not feel comfortable to explain. But Keith felt different; he felt that he could trust his new friends, thus he told his story.

"A couple of years ago," he started. "My dad was working at a food store, which was being unsuccessful when it was competing against a rival shop. We became bankrupt and we needed some money desperately. That's where Team Ocean came in…

"They offered a huge sum of money, providing that we work for them. We had no choice so we had to…

"My dad and I were working for them for a very long time. Every mission we did involved stealing money and goods, and hurting others. I hated them for that and I hated myself…

"Another reason why I hated them was that there was one time where my dad died when he put himself on the line when he saved the group by staying behind to detonate a bomb inside a bank, making sure that there would be no evidences after we ran away with the loot. I begged him not to but you can do the math…"

"No one had any sympathy for me or my dad. Since then, while I was doing my missions, successful but not the way they like it, I was searching for anyone that could help… that was when you guys came into the picture… and you know the rest."

"Sounds just like me while I was Team Rocket," Black Jack thought to himself. "Glad that he's away from them."

"Keith…" Alice said sadly as tears formed in her eyes while she wiped them off. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry about your dad."

"It's okay," Keith said. "I wanna thank you guys for helping me out back there and for me to hang around with you guys."

"Coming to think of it," Black Jack said. "I bet your old man is smiling from above because you're safe with us."

"Jerry, what do you think?" Alice said as she turned towards him.

"Just one question," Jerry said. "If you're such a nice guy, why were you, like, showing off while we were battling?"

"It's the way I am, thanks to Ocean," Keith replied. "I thought I lost hope of getting away from them until you guys came along."

Jerry still had his unconvinced look on his face, much to Alice's concern. "Can't you just be friends with him, Jerry? After what he's been through and what he's done for us?" she asked.

He let out a small sigh, thinking of how he was going to put up with a guy who embarrassed him in their battle. "Alright," he said. "But I still hate you!"

"Still haven't gotten over that battle we had, Jerry?" Keith asked cheekily.

Jerry let out an annoyed grunt as he turned his back on Keith, looking outside the window. Black Jack, Wally and Cassandra noticed that this rivalry might have just begun.

After Keith was released from hospital, Cassandra and Wally told their friends that they had some important stuff to do. Therefore, they went into different directions, saying they would meet up later at the pokemon center.

It was the same day that a pokemon contest would be opened for pokemon coordinators as Black Jack and his 'cubs' spotted a poster.

"Hey! A new pokemon contest is coming on today," Alice said. "It's called the 'Golden Ribbon'. The poster says that it's not just any contest, it's for the golden ribbon plus get to be in the masters' rank. Can I participate, uncle?"

"Ya need to ask?" Black Jack asked in reply. "Go ahead."

"Hey up," Jerry said as he looked at the poster. "There's more. The rules stated that twenty trainers, interested, are to register and compete. First round involves the studio audience to vote for the best-looking pokemon. Only eight can go through the next round and the rest are eliminated.

"The second round involves the pokemon performing stunts. Four goes through to the next round the other four won't. Same goes for round three but only two will go through.

"The fourth and final round would have two trainers battling each other and judges will judge on how well they perform, based on coolness, cuteness and stuff. Tough competition from my view."

"I didn't know you could read, Jerry," Keith said.

"What was that?" Jerry shouted as he turned his attention towards him with a vain throbbing in his forehead.

"I'm joking, bud!" Keith said in defence, showing a small cheeky grin while Black Jack shook his head in disappointment.

"I'm not your buddy!" Jerry yelled.

"Jerry is such an easy guy to fool," Black Jack thought to himself as he looked at the poster checked to see who would be judging the competition. "Karen Tuskbourne, Bill Fireman and Brian Powell," he read out loud.

"Brian Powell?" Jerry exclaimed in surprise, quickly stopped being angry towards Keith. "He's the most hardest and harshest critic when it comes to talent, even when it comes to pokemon contests."

"Let's not forget about Bill," Keith continued. "Even at his old age, I heard he's not… 'all there'."

"C'mon, you guys!" Alice said loudly, getting their attention. "If we don't hurry, we'll miss our chance! It's not far from here!"

She, Keith and Jerry, ran to their destination while Black Jack slowly followed, walking. As they made it to their destination, a lot of people gathered there. The building for that was being held pokemon contest looked like a huge purple dome with large entrance doors. "Wow," Alice said in surprise. "I think they are all desperate to impress those judges."

"I doubt that," a young teen's voice said. They turned towards the voice's attention. He was wearing a light purple jacket with a black shirt underneath, blue jeans, and a pair of brown shoes; he also had green eyes and hair.

"Hey! I heard about you!" Jerry said as he pointed to him. "You must be Drew Whatsisname. The guy who sometimes competes against May Maple."

"Drew Moore," Keith whispered in his ear, which made him angrily turn his head towards him.

"Thanks for recognising me," Drew said. "I'm afraid that these are spectators, a lot of them are coordinators who are afraid to impress those judges."

"So, are you entering?" Keith asked.

"Me? No," Drew answered in a confident tone. "I just take my time becoming a top pokemon coordinator, I'm too good for them anyway."

"Then prove it," Black Jack said. "If you're so confident with your abilities as a pokemon coordinator then what's stopping you from entering? I heard that opportunities like these don't come very often."

"Well, let's just say that I'm not an opportunist," Drew replied as he walked away.

"Heh, whatever," Black Jack said with a shrug. "He's got all the ribbons, least he could do is learn a few things."

"Attention!" a voice sounded from a nearby speaker that was attached by a post. "There are only a few spaces left, so trainers, make sure you register if you want to compete in this competition."

"C'mon! Let's go!" Alice cried as she grabbed hold of Jerry's and Keith's wrists and ran towards the dome while Black Jack slowly followed.

As they got inside the building, they noticed that there was no cue at the registration tables, despite a huge number of people walking around the main entrance hall. Alice quickly ran over there to register for entry while Black Jack and his other 'cubs' went to the audience member registration table.

At the audience member registration table, Keith and Black Jack mentioned their names while Jerry slightly hesitated to give out his full name when it was his turn. "May I have your name, sir?" the lady receptionist asked.

"Er… Jerry…" Jerry replied and then he closed in on her face whispering his second name.

"Okay, Mr. Jerry Tickler," the lady said out loud as she typed down various keys on her computer while fell to the floor in shock and embarrassment.

"Gah!" Jerry snarled in thought as he quickly got up and fought the urge to jump up and down in anger. He found his family name quite embarrassing and felt that someone may make fun out of him if they found out. "What's the point of giving away your full name if they're going to say to it anyway!"

"Tickler? That's your second name?" Black Jack asked.

"You're not laughing?" Jerry asked in surprise.

"No, we're not laughing," Keith replied as he and Black Jack turned their backs on Jerry, hiding away their smiles.

As they got to the centre of the room to discuss Alice's plans on the contest, a girl's voice was heard. "Oh my gosh! It's Alice Hummingburg!" she said loudly and excitedly.

That caught their attention; they turned towards the direction of the voice and saw two girls standing next to each other. One had blue shoulder length hair and a pretty looking face; she also had a blue mini skirt, blue and yellow trainers, and a white t-shirt with a picture of a heart-shaped pokemon on it. The other had ginger hair that reached down her neck and also had a pretty face. She had a yellow t-shirt on, blue jeans and a pair of white trainers.

"Oh my gosh! It's Dawn 'Water' Spirit and Peach Suomi!" Alice cried, also excited as she dashed over to them.

"We love you guys!" the three girls cried happily in unison, much to Black Jack and Keith's awkward surprise.

The girls quickly got into a conversation about how they loved each other's past contest strategies, skills and their pokemon. They then released their respective pokemon that they would be using in the contest. Dawn released her beautiful sea snake Gorebyss, Peach released her pink and cute kitten Skitty, and Alice released her Togetic, QT.

After spending some time talking, Alice lightly slapped herself in the forehead as she forgot something. "Ah! I forgot to introduce you to some friends of mine," she said.

She took them over to her friends and relatives and she introduced them to him first. "Black Jack," Dawn, the girl in blue, said as she and Peach, the girl in yellow and orange, offered to shake his hand. "It's an honour to finally meet you, one of the most famous trainers."

"And since you know Ash and Misty," Peach continued. "We'd make it a triple honour."

"Pleasure's all mine," Black Jack replied as he accepted their offer and compliments as he looked down on the Gorebyss and Skitty. "Hey, what are their names?"

"This is Coral," Dawn said motioning to her Gorebyss. "Like Peach, she's been around with me before I started pokemon training. They're like sisters to me."

"Gorebyss gore," Coral cooed in delight as she felt a light stroke from her trainer.

Peach picked up her Skitty and held her in front of her chest. "Hello, my name's Smitty," she said cutely, pretending to be the Skitty's speaking voice. "I'm so happy to meet you nice people."

"Meow," Smitty mewed cutely while waving her tiny paw.

"Don't mind her, she's always like this, but it's really cute when you look at it." Dawn said, which Peach replied with a thank you.

"This is Keith," Alice said as she motioned them over to Keith. "One of my friends."

"Hi, Keith," Peach and Dawn said in unison.

"Hey," Keith said as he shook their hands.

"We have never seen you before," Peach said. "Pokemon trainer?"

Keith replied with a nod. "Started at ten," he replied.

"You look older then ten," Dawn said. "Have you competed in a league or contest?"

"Nope. Never did."

"Why's that?" Peach asked unaware that Alice was looking concerned for her newfound friend, thinking that he may not be ready to reveal his secret.

"Let's just say that I don't like being on TV," Keith replied with a small smile on his face.

"And this is Jerry," Alice said as she motioned them over to him.

"Hi, Jerry," the girls said in unison as they offered to shake his hand.

Jerry's eyes were widened as a tint red colour was showing on his face. He stuttered and mumbled as he slowly shook their hands. Black Jack noticed this and quickly moved him away from them. "Don't mind him," he said. "He's always like this with new people."

"Okay," Dawn said as she winked. "Peach and I will meet you guys at the contest."

"Yeah, wish you luck and wish us luck," Peach said as she and Dawn left. "See you later," they said unison.

As the two left, Alice, Keith and Black Jack stared at Jerry vacant looking face for numerous moments before Alice and Keith started laughing, snapping him out of his trance while Black Jack shook his head while rolling his eyes.

"What?" Jerry asked in confusion.

"You like them, don't you, Jerry?" Keith asked cheekily.

"Oh, shut up!" Jerry snarled as a red blush appeared on his face.

"Will you young cubs cut it out?" Black Jack complained. "Alice has got work to do, and she may need our help. The show starts in half an hour."

And with that, Black Jack and his cubs set off to discuss Alice's plans on how to win this upcoming competition.  
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	10. Episode 3, Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

As the contestants and spectators were getting ready for the contest, at the back of the stage, an old chubby man in a smart suit was sitting at his desk searching for something. "Where's my cell phone?" he asked himself. "Ah-ha!" he said in delight as he picked up a banana from the desk. "Here's what I'm looking for!"

He pressed a few times on the banana and used it as a phone. "Hello? Is anyone there?" Then he came to the realisation as he moved it away from his ear and looked at it. "Hang on a second! This isn't my phone! Yes it is!"

"Who said that?" he asked himself as he looked at himself in the mirror. "Ah! Who are you!" he yelled in a sudden fright.

He shook his head rapidly to get back to his senses. "Stupid thing," he muttered as he tossed the fruit away and then picked up his phone, much to his glee. "Ah-ha! Here's what I'm looking for!" he said before he used it as an electronic razor.

While he was 'shaving' a man came and knocked on his opened door getting his attention. He was medium built, had bushy eyebrows and was wearing a grey tight t-shirt, black jeans, and brown shoes. "Bill," he started. "Are you alright?"

"Of course I am, Brian," Bill replied positively and enthusiastically. "Why?"

"Me, Karen and the TV producers have been talking and we're a little worried that you might be a little… confused."

"Confused? No chance, my boy!" Bill said loudly. "He might be," he continued as he pointed at the mirror, reflecting the mirror image of himself. "But I'm definitely not! Now come on! Let's go!"

With that, Bill quickly got up and walked out the room. "Bill, wait a minute," Brian called in alert. "You've forgot your…"

Suddenly, a bunch of girls screamed in fright from outside the room. "Trousers," Brian finished as he scratched his head in embarrassment.

Meanwhile, at the spectators' gallery of the contest hall, Black Jack and Keith sat next to each other while there was a vacant seat next to Black Jack. That seat belong to none other than Jerry as he came down the stairs carrying a huge tub of popcorn and three large beverages.

He struggled to get through a large crowd to get to his seat. When he did, he gave one beverage each to Black Jack and Keith before sitting down on his seat.

"So when is the show starting?" Jerry asked as he quickly stuffed some of the popcorn in his mouth.

"It's starting right now," Black Jack said as a man wearing a tuxedo walked up on stage carrying a microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the judge exclaimed enthusiastically into the microphone. "Welcome to the Golden Ribbon contest!"

The audience gave a long and loud cheer, apart from the slightly surprised Black Jack who responded by saying, "Jeez, it's not pantomime."

"First, before we meet the contestants, I would like to introduce three of the smartest and wisest minds of talent today!" the host said enthusiastically as he pointed to the judging panel at the left side of the stage. "Unfortunately, they couldn't be here today, so we have Karen Tuskbourne with us today…" he continued as the woman with brown hair and dress waved to the audience as they cheered for her.

"Bill Fireman…" the host continued as the chubby old man was taking a nap in his chair until a middle-aged man wearing a tux woke him up, getting him to wave to the audience.

"And Brian Powell," the host finished as the crowd started booing at Brian.

"I haven't started," Brian replied back arrogantly.

"And now," the host continued. "Let us meet the contestants!"

One by one, the trainers, accompanied by their respective pokemon, walked onto the stage. As Black jack and his two students expected, Alice, Dawn and Peach came up on stage, along with a coordinator that they didn't expect to see… Drew, the coordinator who refused to participate at first. He entered the contest along with a beautiful grass type pokemon, Roselia.

"I thought he wasn't going to turn up," Keith whispered to Black Jack.

"Neither did I," Black Jack whispered back. "Maybe it was something I said."

"Okay folks!" the host yelled excitedly. "In the first round is the voting round. The contestants and pokemon won't need to perform in this round but the audience, that's you guys, will have to vote for the contestant you want to see go to the next round. Under your seats are keypads with numbered buttons, press the numbered button that matches with the number of your favourite contestant to help them get through to the next round. The top eight contestants who gets the most votes will go through, the rest will go home."

"Huh?" Jerry replied, feeling confused.

Black Jack let out a small annoyed sigh. "Just press Alice's number, eighteen," he replied as he pointed the button of Jerry's keypad as he picked up his.

"Everybody ready?" the host yelled. "Vote now!"

Everyone in the audience pressed their buttons, hoping to see their favourite go through the next round. "Voting over!" the host announced. "While the votes are being counted, we'll have the judges' opinions."

He turned towards the judges. "Karen," he said. "Who do you think might get through?"

"Oh, I don't know, they all look absolutely fabulous," Karen said passionately. "They all look precious like the precious pokemon I have at home."

"Thank you, Karen," the host said as he turned towards Bill. "Bill, what do you think?"

"I have no idea," Bill said, amazed at the sight of each pokemon present. "Decisions like these can be so hard. I can't make a decision like this." He then mumbled to himself, "Yes you can." He then yelled, "Who said that?"

Shocked, Bill began looking around, wondering who said it, not realising that it was actually him who said that while Brian placed his hand on his face in embarrassment. "Continue, mate, continue," he said.

"Thank you, Bill," the host turned to the third judge. "Brian?"

"I don't get it," Brian said. "Trainers feed their pokemon pokeblocks. Why? Well, they said that eating those sweets would make them look smarter, look cooler, look more beautiful, etc. Like those two Mr. Mimes over there," he continued as he pointed at them. "I don't know what pokeblocks they've been feeding on but they both look the same to me. Therefore, I have no clue who's going through."

"There is an old saying, Brian," Karen said, trying to sound smart. "The real beauty comes from the inside."

"That's just something you ugly people say," Brian replied back, which annoyed her as the crowd started booing him again. "I take it that you people see yourselves as ugly too," he said.

Karen became angry at Brian's remark as an anime vain started to throb in her forehead. "How dare you, you..."

"Brian! Not in front of the children!" Bill exclaimed alarmingly at her, knowing what she was going to say.

"Bill, I'm Brian," Brian said loudly to him. "She's Karen."

"Oh, sorry, Karen," Bill said as he turned towards Brian.

"Can we just get on, please?" Brian said in an annoyed tone. "Getting rather awkward here."

"Okay, okay," the host said. "Can I have the results please?"

A man in everyday clothing and headphones ran up to the stage and delivered a piece of paper to him. "Thank you, Charlie," the host said as he took the paper.

"It's Bob, actually," the man said as he walked away.

The host began to read out the top eight contestants. As Black Jack hoped, Alice was through to the next round. Peach and Dawn were also through, much to Jerry's joy. Drew was also put into the next round. As Black Jack looked at the eight contestants, he predicted that Drew, Alice, Peach and Dawn would be in the top four.

After the announcement of the top eight contestants, they were given a half-hour recess. Alice was in her dressing room backstage, helping QT practice some moves for the contest. The room was a luxurious looking room with a white polished desk with a mirror next to one of the yellow walls, a leather couch, a number of celebrity posters and red carpet.

While they practised, there was knocking on the door, catching their attention.

"Come in," Alice responded. The door opened, her friends and uncle entered the room.

"Nervous?" Black Jack asked.

"Yeah, a little," Alice replied, trying to sound honest. Despite that she was trying to sound brave Black Jack knows better.

"Ya mind if I help you out Alice?" Jerry said enthusiastically. "I got something big in my head that would blow the crowd away."

"Thanks, Jerry," Alice said. "But I want to show everybody what I can do without help this time."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because after all this time, I've been getting help from Uncle Jack with my contests. Right now, since I'm in the toughest pokemon contest around, I want to show everyone that I've got what it takes to be one of the best."

"She's got you there, Jerry," Keith said.

Jerry hung his head low, feeling embarrassed again. "Why does it always have to be you who mock me?" he muttered.

"Don't you want to at least show us what you're planning?" Black Jack asked.

"Sorry, uncle," Alice replied. "But you know me, I don't like to ruin surprises."

Black Jack showed a fitting smile, feeling that his niece would bring out a great performance. "Fair enough," he said. He then turned towards the other two kids. "C'mon you young cubs. Alice and QT's still got more practising to do."

As they left, Alice let out a huge sigh, trying to release her nerves, knowing how hard it would be to impress the most difficult judges. She remembered her first participation in her first pokemon contest...

-Flashback-

She was sitting in a locker room. She was sitting on a bench with a coloured cube in her fingers called a pokeblock, a pokemon sweet she was planning to feed one to QT, a Togepi at the time who was sitting next to her, to increase her statistics, such as her cuteness.

Apart from QT there was no one else in that room, not even Black Jack. Earlier that day before the contest, she had some practising for that event with some help from him. As the start of the contest was getting closer, Alice asked for her uncle to practice alone with QT in the locker room, which Black Jack agreed to.

The real reason why she wanted to be alone was because of her nerves and she didn't want to show him how weak she was. Her nerves was getting too much for her as tears began to form in her eyes.

Seeing this, QT let out some small cute chirps, assuring her that they would do great in that contest. Alice turned towards QT and showed a small smile as she wiped the tears off her eyes. Like most of her pokemon, every time she looked at them, her nerves would leave.

-End Flashback-

Alice looked down to the floor, still breathing heavily to release her nerves. She felt a small paw touching her. She turned to her right and saw her Togetic, QT, touching her hand. "Toge, toge," QT chirped in an assuring tone, which helped Alice show a smile on her face. With QT by her side, her confidence increased.

After the intermission, the boys went back to their seats and to observe the performances of the top eight contestants.

One in particular was Peach and Smitty the Skitty, who Black Jack spotted as a possible top contender, was one of the first contestants to come out on stage while the host introduced her to the crowd. The crowd applauded for her while Jerry couldn't help but stare at her vacantly, while Black Jack looked at him as though he was acting strangely.

As Peach and Smitty got to the center of the stage they bowed politely to the applauding audience. Then they got into position ready to perform their act.

"Go! Smitty!" Peach yelled. "Use your Assist move!"

Smitty leapt into the air and glowed energetically blue as she shot out a huge stream of water out of her mouth. "That's a Water Gun attack," Black Jack said noticeably.

As the huge stream of water came falling down, Peach ordered Smitty to use her Ice Beam attack. Smitty obeyed as she shot a blue beam out of her mouth, hitting the falling liquid, turning it into a huge block of ice.

"Way to go, Smitty," Peach said. "Now, use your Assist move again."

An energy ball on Smitty's raised paw as numerous spinning leaves came shooting out of the ball. As the leaves came shooting out, they were quickly changing into different colours as they continually hit the ice block, knocking down small parts of ice and they scattered into the away, slowly falling as they sparkled beautifully, while audience looked on in astonishment. Black Jack, being a hard man to impress, also enjoyed that moment as he nodded his head. "Not bad," he said.

"Okay, Smitty, stop," Peach instructed. The glowing ball on Smitty's paw disappeared as she lowered her paw as they both gazed at the ice object in front of them, which is now a stunning looking statue of Peach hugging Smitty.

Peach clasped her hands and looked at the ice sculpture while smiling like a child in a candy store. "Oh, it's… beautiful, Smitty!" Peach cried with high admiration in her voice. The pink kitten turned round and cried happily as she leapt into her trainer's arms. She caught her beloved pokemon began hugging. The way they hugged each other looked exactly the statue that Smitty created.

The judges were much impressed as the audience as they them a combined score of 29.5 points. It was a good score since the highest score the contestants can get was 30.0. After seeing what their score was Peach and Smitty happily danced around with joy and then they bowed to the delighted and applauding audience before walking off the stage.

The next contestant to walk on stage was Dawn, who was being accompanied by Coral, her Gorebyss. In Dawn's hand was a bucket of different coloured balls.

When they got to the center of the stage they politely bowed in front of the audience.

Dawn leapt backwards as Coral got ready. "Okay, Coral," Dawn said loudly. "Water Gun!"

Coral raised her head upwards and shot a fountain of water out of her mouth. A lot of the audience felt the cool and pleasant drizzle as it spread from the mountain.

Dawn picked a few balls out of the bucket and tossed them towards the fountain. The fountain successfully caught each ball and Coral managed to keep them floating on top of it, much to the amazement of the judges and the audience.

"Now, form your water gun into a ring," Dawn instructed.

Obeying her instructions, Coral, still holding her Water Gun attack, separated her water gun and slowly turned her fountains into a horizontal hoop above her while the coloured balls moved about in the hoop, much to the audience's and the judge's amazement.

"Form your water gun into a heart, Coral," Dawn instructed.

Listening to her instructions obediently, Coral slowly formed her water gun into a vertical shape of the heart, while still keeping the balls moving inside the Water Gun, impressing everyone even more.

"Now, throw them back into the bucket, Coral," Dawn ordered.

Coral slowly formed her Water Gun back into a fountain again. She then separated her fountain back into two again, one of them shooting out each coloured ball while Dawn successfully caught each one and placing them back into the bucket, much to the astonishment of the audience. "Not bad," Black Jack thought, noticing how good the performance was while nodding his head, slightly.

After the performance was finished, they both bowed to the audience receiving a standing ovation while the judges gave her a total score of 29.5, the same score as her friend Peach had. After Dawn giving Coral a great big hug in celebration, they both bowed to the audience and then to the judges before walking off the stage.

"Alice is up soon," Black Jack thought to himself, thinking how good Peach and Dawn were. "I know she's got something big coming up."  
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	11. Episode 3, Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The third out of Black Jack's predicted top four was Alice, his niece, and QT. She came out with a couple of apples while QT flew to the center of the stage while the host introduced her while crowd applauded.

"Ready, QT?" Alice called to him.

"Toge toge!" QT cried while nodding, signalling that he was ready.

"Go!" Alice yelled as she tossed the two fruits into the air. "Psychic and Metronome!"

The Togetic quickly looked up at the two apples and glowed energetically blue, stopping the two apples as they also glowed the same colour while he slowly moved his paws from left and right.

While still glowing, QT leapt into the air and used his paws as knives to quickly peel off a small amount of skin off the apple. Then, he fell and landed safely on his feet with the apples safely in his paws. He showed the apples with the beautifully carved Chinese symbols to the audience while the big screen displayed the apples while the audience looked on in amazement.

"I have no clue what it says but that looks way cool," Jerry said impressed.

"That's Chinese for Blooming Flower," Black Jack said. "There's a saying in this, 'a flower that blooms is the most beautiful'."

"Huh? What does that mean?" Keith asked, slightly confused.

"Let's just say that I always find her very special."

"Yeah…" Keith said while he thought deeply about her.

"How do you know that, boss?" Jerry asked.

"Chan taught me."

"Isn't a trainer supposed to teach pokemon stuff?"

"Jerry, sometimes a trainer needs to learn a few things from his pokemon. Keep that in mind."

"Okay, QT," Alice called to her Togetic. "Use Psychic and Metronome again!"

"Toge!" QT chirped loudly as he tossed them up into the air again and glowed energetically as he moved his paws from left to right and back. He stopped glowing and leapt up into the air and began slashing at the apples in a quick and graceful way while the apples stayed airborne.

QT fell and safely landed on his feet as the apples fell safely into his paws. He raised them close to his face and gave them a gentle blow. Like small pink cherry blossoms, small and flat pieces of the apples began to float around the studio, much to astonishment of the audience.

"Wow!" Keith said in amazement. "Feels like I'm watching the mask of Zorro."

Jerry grabbed one of the floating pieces of the apple and placed it in his mouth. "Mmm, tasty," he said.

While the crowd applauded, Alice and QT gave a polite bow to them and then to the judges as they showed her the total score, which was 28.9. Despite that it was lower score that Peach and Dawn's, Alice was still happy because of the effort that they both put into this performance.

The final contestant of the top eight was Drew as he confidently walked onto the stage with Roselia as the host introduced him to the audience. While he and his Roselia walked to the center of the stage, most of the girls in the audience screamed for him because of his popularity in pokemon contests and his good looks.

As the audience quietened down, an orchestral music was being played in the background. "Roselia, use Magical Leaf," Drew instructed calmly.

The beautiful petal pokemon danced gracefully around the stage while shooting a number of leaves out of her flower-like paws while the leaves changed into sorts of beautiful colours, such as maroon red and sky blue as they start drift down slowly.

"That's great, Roselia," Drew said. "Now use your Petal Dance."

Roselia continued dancing to the music as she shot out small petals out of her paws and then stopped and raised both of them in the air and then started to spin when the music started to play dramatically. Her spinning was so fast that she created a tornado; it was powerful enough to move around the leaves and petals in circles but it did not vacuum the audience members.

"Okay, Roselia," Drew called. "Stop and use your Sunny Day."

As the music started playing slowly and calmly, the little petal pokemon stopped spinning and kneeled down while glowing energetically like that sun that shines in the bright blue sky. While she did, the petals and leaves also started to shine beautiful colours as they slowly started to move in circles and drift downwards, much to the crowds' amazement.

After the music finished playing, she stood up and bowed to the audience, signalling that the performance was finished and the audience gave a standing ovation. Drew and Roselia turned towards the judges and they responded by giving him a total score of 29.7. Roselia and Drew gave them a nod signalling a thank you and then walked off the stage.

After the final contestant performed and receiving his score, the show host walked up to the stage with the microphone in hand. "Now! Let's see the top four scores to see who gets to be in the top four!" the host yelled as the big screen of the studio displayed the top four contestants, which were Dawn, Peach, Alice and Drew. These were the four contestants that Black Jack predicted that would be in the top four. "Congratulations!" he yelled enthusiastically. "Come on out guys!"

The four trainers with their respective pokemon walked on to the stage waving happily at the audience, apart from Drew who kept his cool. "You guys have now made it to the top four… which now has a twist," the host said. "Instead of having to do more performances, you four will now have a free-for-all pokemon battle to determine the winner of the Golden Ribbon contest."

Everyone became shocked and surprised of that announcement, except Jerry who showed a look of understanding. "Oh, so that's how the judges get to leave early," he said.

"What do you mean?" Keith asked.

"Well, Karen's got some home emergency with her dog pokemon, Bill Fireman's just remembered that he has a doctor's appointment and Brian feels like having a long lunch. I heard it from some guy while I was getting us the drinks."

"As much as I hate to see how lazy and disorganised the judges are, having this kind of round is a good idea," Black Jack said. "A very good idea."

"The same rules apply from your usual battling rounds in pokemon contests," the host said. "Only it'll have four of the contestants battling at the same time. For those of you who don't know the rules of this round then I'll explain. The judges will judge on how the pokemon attacks look, based on their beauty, coolness, cuteness, smartness, and toughness, adding and decreasing their points in the process. If the pokemon is unable to battle, he or she will be eliminated and the battle will continue until the last pokemon remains, thus making him or her the winner. If the time limit of five minutes run out, the winner will be decided by how many points they have."

The remaining contestants were given a half hour recess to prepare for their upcoming battle round and they were sent to their dressing rooms. "Should we get to the back?" Jerry asked.

"Let's go," Black Jack said as they got up from their seats. As they got up, Black Jack and Keith noticed the determined look on Alice's face.

Alice and QT quickly made their way back to her dressing room. She quickly picked up a 'do not disturb' sign she found on her desk and hanged it outside on her doorknob. She then shut and locked her dressing room door.

While she prepared, her uncle and friends reached her dressing room door and looked at the sign. "Do not disturb?" Jerry read out loud. "Why would she want to keep us out? Should we at least check on how she's doing?"

"No," Black Jack replied as he remembered the determined look on Alice's face. "She said that she wants to do this alone."

"She needs our help, doesn't she?" Keith asked.

"We already are by being here for her."

After hearing that response, he remembered how determined Alice was on winning the Golden Ribbon contest and showed a small smile. "Yeah," he said to himself. "She'll be okay."

They started walking back to the audience balcony. "I keep on wondering, Black Jack," Keith said. "If she wants to be a pokemon master, why is she determined to win this contest?"

"It's because of the promise she made to QT," Black Jack said. "Back when QT was a Togepi, he and Alice enjoyed watching a lot of Pokemon Contests on TV. I think that watching them somehow inspired QT and Alice to participate in those contests and become the best there is."

"Man, that's some big stuff," Jerry said sounding impressed.

"I know. Doing two different things at the same time is a hard thing to do," Keith said.

"No, I mean check out the size of that hot dog!" Jerry corrected as he pointed at a nearby fast food stand while Black Jack and Keith gave him a dull look.

The half hour recess was up and the host called each of remaining contestants out while the audience applauded for them, knowing that they would be seeing a great upcoming battle.

The contestants and their pokemon took their places of the battlefield, each one standing at one side, ready to battle. Each contestant had determined looks on their faces, knowing that this would be a tough battle.

"Contestants, when I say go, that'll your turn to go," the host announced. "In 5… 4… oh, what the heck, GO!" he finished as he ran off the field.

"Coral! Use Water Gun on QT!" Dawn instructed.

"Roselia! Use your Razor Leaf attack!" Drew ordered.

"Use Assist, Smitty!" Peach yelled.

"Get ready to dodge with your Fly attack, QT!" Alice yelled.

The pokemon did as they were instructed as they start to use their moves… but suddenly, some rumbling was felt and heard throughout the building. This distracted the pokemon from their attacks as they and the others wondered what was going on.

"Er… this rumbling… it's part of this round, right?" Jerry asked worriedly. "It's either that or it's something I ate…"  
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More coming! Reviews please!


	12. Episode 3, Chapter 4

Hey, PI fans. Got a present for you lot.

**Chapter 4**

Everyone became startled of the rumblings that were occurring inside and around the building, except Black Jack who kept his cool. He looked towards the stage and sensed something bad coming. "Alice! It's coming from that wall! Watch out!" he yelled in alarm.

Alice heard her uncle calling towards her and also and also sensed that the rumbling was coming from behind as she ran out of the way while the other contestants walked away as well. Suddenly, a huge vehicle crashed into the walls, shocking everyone in the studio.

As the dust cleared, the vehicle appeared to be a huge blue army-like tank with a white skull printed at the side of it. "Ocean…" Black Jack and Keith snarled in unison.

Team Ocean grunts ran into the scene from the huge hole of the wall and surrounded the tank. The top on top of the tank opened and another Team Ocean member climbed out while holding a megaphone. He was standing six foot tall, and was wearing much the same as his comrades but he had red sideburns, beard and an eye patch. He raised his megaphone up to his lips and spoke into it. "Black Jack and Keith Marsden! We demand that you surrender yourselves! Act otherwise, and these people shall suffer!" he yelled.

"And I thought that Brian Powell was a rude punk," Jerry said, not liking that man's attitude.

"How did they find us here," Keith whispered to Black Jack.

"They must have some spy around here looking for us," Black Jack replied. "Move, Jerry."

"You're giving yourself up to them?" Jerry asked in disbelief.

"Move it," Black Jack said as he got up from his seat.

"Black Jack, wait," Keith said, touching his arm to get his attention. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this."

Black Jack, showing an expressionless look on his face, moved his arm away from Keith and slowly moved down towards the stage while Keith followed. Everyone in the audience, knowing how strong Black Jack was, cried for him to not give himself up to them. "What is the boss doing?" Jerry asked himself, confused and saddened. Why was Black Jack following the villain's demands?

"Uncle! What are you doing?" Alice yelled as she and QT attempted to run to protect them but was being held back by Dawn and Peach, knowing how dangerous it would be to get a friend in danger.

Black Jack and Keith stepped onto the stage and they both looked up at the man with the megaphone. "Before you guys take me in I want to make a couple of favours," Black Jack said.

"Well, I am a man who allow others to have their last requests before I… you know," the man replied using the megaphone. "Now, tell me what's yours?"

"First, tell me and the other guys who you guys are," Black Jack said.

"Very well," the man replied, knowing that Team Ocean would themselves known to the world sooner or later. He turned towards the audience members and spoke into the megaphone. "My name is Rick, one of the high ranked officers of Team Ocean. We plan to take control of this world by we capture all strong water pokemon and all water pokemon masters. Then, and only then, everyone will fear us and me!"

Rick lowered his megaphone and turned his attention back to his two hostages. "Any other requests?" he asked.

"Yeah, pass me the megaphone," Black Jack said as he pointed to the object.

Rick showed a confused face but he tossed it to him. Black Jack caught it and looked at for a few seconds before holding it near his mouth and began speaking into it, getting the audience's attention. "After twenty five years of doing this, you'd think I'd get bored and give up on my life and this little hobby," he said.

He quickly threw the megaphone at one of the grunts directly in the forehead, knocking him down and out, much to everyone's shock. He then charged towards the grunts while the pokeballs attached to his belt opened, releasing his pokemon as they got ready to get into this upcoming brawl. The Ocean grunts took their chance to throw out their pokeballs releasing their aquatic pokemon.

Keith blinked numerous times in surprise but finally came to realise that Black Jack was toying with the enemy. "He lied," Keith sneered as he took out a pokeball off his belt. "Go! Skarmory!"

A large steel armoured bird materialised from a strange red energy, letting out a screech after being released from the pokeball.

"Hey! Let me have some fun here!" Jerry yelled as he ran down to the stage, taking out his and tossing it out. "Get'm, Jacky!"

The fighting-type pokemon materialised as he became released yelling out his battle cry. "Jacky!" Jerry yelled as he pointed at a large crab with a huge clamping claw. "Attack that Kingler with your Tackle attack!"

Jacky posed like a martial artist before running towards the Kingler, attempting to slam himself onto his face. The huge crab shot out a beam of bubbles out of his mouth towards the now shocked Hitmonlee, too shocked to stop running.

"Skarmory! Use Protect to protect Jacky!" Keith yelled.

The metal bird quickly flew down between Jacky and the Bubblebeam attack while an energetic sphere surrounded her. The kicking Pokemon got knocked down, but not hurt, by the sphere while numerous bubbles hit it but failed to penetrate.

After the last bubble hit the shield, it quickly disappeared. Skarmory landed safely on her feet while Jacky lifted up his legs and lower back, he quickly leapt from his higher back and landed on his feet. They both looked at each other and Jacky held a thumb up, appreciating what his newfound friend had just done.

"Wow," Keith said, sounding impressed. "What move was that?"

"I think it was called a Chinese pick up," Jerry answered. "The boss's Blaziken taught it to him." He noticed a Golduck running towards Skarmory. "Jacky! Protect Skarmory with your Hi Jump Kick against that Golduck!"

The Hitmonlee leapt on Skarmory's back and then jumped towards the opposition, he performed a spinning cartwheel-like kick, slamming his foot on top of Golduck's head, knocking him out unconscious.

Keith looked on in an impressed way and then looked back at Jerry, who was showing a small smile. "For a jerk… you're not… all that bad," Jerry said. "I think I may be a bigger jerk than you."

Keith smiled back in response. "I agree," he said. "But for a loser, you're not all that bad either."

He let out his hand to offer Jerry a handshake of friendship. Jerry smiled and shook his hand in response. They both realised that they would have to be friends at some level, not just for Alice but for themselves too. "Looks like I'll have to put with you for a while," Jerry said.

"Fine with me," Keith replied.

"Hey, boys!" Black Jack yelled from a distance. "You're missing out on some fun here!"

After hearing that, they both turned their focus back on to the battle scene.

As the battling continued, Drew saw a number of Ocean grunts and pokemon running towards and Roselia. "Roselia!" he yelled. "Use your Petal Dance attack!"

Roselia began to spin in one place so fast that she created a huge tornado, sucking her enemies into it. As they were getting caught inside the tornado, they were receiving cuts on their skins by the sharp edges of each petal that were being tossed around inside the whirlwind, feeling the deep sting by each cut and heavy dizziness in their heads.

After the tornado slowly vanished, the grunts fell and crashed unconsciously to the ground. "Ta-da," Drew said arrogantly as he and Roselia bowed to the audience.

Meanwhile, Peach, Dawn and their respective pokemon were back to back while being surrounded by the grunts. "Get them!" yelled one of the grunts.

"Coral! Use your Water Gun on the floor!" Dawn instructed. Coral quickly sprayed a fountain of water to the floor around them, making some of the unsuspecting grunts slip up and fall to the floor. They had trouble getting up because of the slippery floor.

"Obstacle one done!" Peach yelled.

"Coral!" Dawn yelled.

"Smitty!"

"Iron Tail together!" they both yelled in unison.

The tails of the respective pokemon glowed vigorously as they performed somersaults while quickly slamming their high-powered tails into each of the enemies' faces. They then noticed that there was one last grunt remaining, running towards their trainers.

He attempted to attack them with a knife but missed as the girls dodged out of the way. "Smitty! Take Down attack!" Peach yelled.

Peach ran at the speed of a shot-out bullet and then slammed her body into the grunt's face, sending him flying into the distance and knocking him unconscious.

Smitty landed on her feet and mewed happily. Peach ran over to her and gave her a huge hug. "You were magnificent, Smitty!"

"You too, Coral," Dawn said happily as she stroked her beautiful sea snake on the head. The Gorebyss let out some enjoying coos as she felt the delightful strokes. She looked over at the rest of the battle scene. "C'mon, Peach," she said. "Let's help the others out."

"Right," Peach said as she and Smitty helped for the rest of the battle.

Meanwhile, Another number of grunts and pokemon intended to attack Alice and her Togetic, QT. "QT! Use your Metronome!" Alice instructed. Hearing that attack, the grunts and their pokemon stayed away from Togetic as he moved his paws left to right, back and fourth. He stopped as his paws started glow bright blue.

After the glowing stopped, QT playfully jumped up and down, shocking Alice and the opposition. "A Splash?" yelled one of the grunts in disbelief. "That's not even an attack! C'mon, gang! Let's get him!"

As the gang of criminals attempted to attack QT, Alice yelled for her pokemon to get out of the way. QT did so as he playfully skipped to the side, making the enemy missing him completely when they tried to tackle him.

They angrily looked at QT's direction and he was still dancing. To them, that was like taunting. They charged towards him but the little Togetic skipped backwards until his back hit the tank. "Got you now, you little brat!" yelled one of the grunts as he and the others were getting closer.

"QT! Use Fly!" Alice yelled suddenly.

QT leapt into the air and started flapping his wings to stay airborne. The grunts completely missed and accidentally crashed into the tank getting themselves injured. QT let out a small giggle while Alice sighed in relieve.

Meanwhile Black Jack was pummelling away on Kingler with punches, kicks and headbutts. He then felt that someone hit him in the back with a foreign weapon but did not feel any as he turned around and saw a Golduck, who was now frightened, holding a steel chain. He looked at him with an annoyed look in his eyes. "I like it when a punk like you attacks me from behind," he said with a sinister smile on his face. "It gives me a chance to do this."

He then proceeded by grabbing Golduck by the neck and then hoisted him on his shoulder and rammed his head into the side of the tank, creating a huge dent in it.

After the damage done to the duck, he dropped him to the floor. Suddenly, Black Jack's Tyranitar leapt from the tank and crashed his over-three hundred pound-body on top of Golduck's crushing his insides.

Meanwhile, Chan was being surrounded by another group of grunts and had his back against a wall. But, he was not worried as he leaned confidently against the wall. The grunts were about to attack but Chan looked up, somehow getting them to look up as well.

As they did, a huge blue steel meteorite fell and crashed right on top of the grunts after Salamence released it from a great height. Chan had them fooled all along.

In another part of the battle scene, Feraligatr was relentlessly beating a large blue seal. Unknown to him, a grunt was slowly walking up from behind carrying a steel pipe while Nidoking was slowly walking behind the grunt with a steel pipe of his own.

As the grunt was about to slam his pipe on the blue crocodile's head Chan quickly stepped in and quickly kicked him in the head, knocking him out, making Nidoking miss the grunt completely and inadvertently hit his friend on the head.

"(Ow!)" Feraligatr roared in pain. Panic-stricken, Nidoking quickly looked round and tossed the weapon to another grunt, who unwittingly caught it with his hands.

"(Who did that)?" Feraligatr snarled angrily while rubbing his aching head. He turned around to see the culprit who hit him on the head and saw Feraligatr, Chan and the grunt, who was holding the pipe in shock.

Nidoking and Chan quickly responded by pointing at the grunt. Feraligatr believed them and angrily stomped towards the frightened grunt. "(I'm gonna tear you a new something)," Feraligatr snarled angrily while Nidoking let out a small breath, not wanting to get into another fight with one of his best friends over another silly mistake.

After much brawling, Rick looked on in horror as his comrades were getting severely beaten. When the last of his comrades was knocked out, he turned around to make his getaway but was snatched by a clawed paw and a human hand, being choked simultaneously. "Look who's left?" Black Jack sneered, who was one of the attackers holding him. "A little boy can hurt himself if he's standing on a dangerous vehicle."

His Tyranitar growled sinisterly with a nasty smile at the villain. He and Black Jack looked at each other in the eyes and nodded before lifting him up and slamming him through the top of the tank, smashing the top to pieces much to everyone's shock. Rick was knocked unconscious.

He and Tyranitar jumped of the huge tank and landed safely on the floor. "(So… anything interesting happen)?" Tyranitar asked curiously, which made Black jack look back in a surprised way. "(Before all of this happened)," he finished, getting Black Jack to understand.

"I'll tell you in a little while after this mess gets cleaned up," Black Jack said as he looked around, seeing numerous Ocean grunts and pokemon lying injured on the floor. He then looked at the badly damaged tank.

"(I think we scratched it)," Tyranitar growled.

"Don't worry, it's a rental," Black Jack replied.

"Hey, boss!" Jerry yelled from a distance, catching their attention as he and the others ran towards them. "That thing you and Tyranitar did with that Rick dude! Some people didn't like seeing that but I don't care cos I did!"

"You didn't do badly yourself, Jerry," Black Jack said, looking rather pleased for what Jerry did.

"And that trick you pulled on those pirates!" Jerry continued enthusiastically. "If we had a recording camera, you'd get an academy award!"

"Jerry…" Black Jack said.

"And I got to thank Chan for helping Jacky out with all those karate or kung-fu moves," Jerry continued excitedly, somehow ignoring Black Jack calling him. "They were fantastic and helped me out in a big way!"

"Jerry…" Black Jack said a little bit louder, still trying to get his attention.

"And let's not forget that you…"

"JERRY!" everyone yelled in unison.

"What?" Jerry responded, slightly startled by everyone's yelling.

"What he means, uncle, that you did it," Alice said as he looked up to him. "You beat that leading member."

"I don't think so," Black Jack said. "WE did it. So what if I made the finishing touch on that guy, the main thing is that we worked as a team and that counts… I'm so proud of you kids."

"You don't show it," Keith said, noticing his expressionless face.

Black Jack responded by looking at him and showed a small smirk on his face. "Keith, remember when you said that you were sorry about getting me into this mess?" he asked.

Keith nodded in response. "Well, you don't have to. I haven't fought a criminal organisation in a long time," Black Jack said.

"You're not mad at me?" Keith asked in surprise.

"No. If I didn't know about this Team Ocean, this world would be in danger. Besides, it looks like that we're going to have a bit of fun now that they're targeting us. Somehow, it brings back the good old days."

"So… this Team Ocean gang," Drew said. "Why are they after you guys?"

"I'll explain after you finish your match with the girls," Black Jack said.

"Actually…" said a man with a loud posh accent. "There will be no final match."

The contestants and their friends turned to the man's attention. The man was Brian Powell holding a microphone; he was one of the three judges judging the competition. "And why's that?" Jerry asked.

"Well, for one thing the building's demolished and a number of arrests have to be made. It's hardly ideal to have a contest battle now," Brian said as he pointed to the great big hole and the criminals. "Therefore, the contest is over and done with."

Everyone started moaning and booing, wanting to see whom the winner would be. "But," Brian Powell continued, with assurance in his voice. "After seeing extraordinary and fantastic display, I decided to give all four of these contestants the golden ribbons because of what they did for us."

Members of the audience began murmur loudly with each other, not knowing whether or not it was the right decision. Then they heard someone clapping and they turned their attention towards the clapper.

It was QT, Alice's pokemon, much to everyone's surprise. "Why, QT?" Alice asked, slightly confused.

QT chirped a lot to his trainer, trying to explain why he was clapping and agreeing with the judges decision. "Can someone tell me what's going on here?" Brian asked.

Black Jack motioned Brian to lend him the microphone. Brian slightly hesitated after seeing what he did with the megaphone. "I'm not going hit you with it," Black Jack said.

Being less hesitant, Brian quickly handed the microphone over to him. "QT says that his dream is to become the greatest performer the world has ever known," Black explained, translating what the Togetic said. "Having said that, he knows that there are other performers that are just as highly determined as he is. After seeing what happened today, he's now more determined to do the best he can to accomplish his dream. And he deeply thanks Alice, the fans and others for giving him that determination."

After hearing that, Alice started to clap her hands agreeing with what QT said, then Dawn, then Peach with Smitty mewing approvingly, then Drew and Roselia, and then others. Soon, everyone gave a standing ovation. Black Jack was the first person that finished clapping and walked towards Brian and spoke privately to him. After a few moments, Black Jack and Brian shook hands as though they agreed on something. They then walked in opposite directions with Black Jack showing a small smile on his face.

"Uncle? What's going on?" Alice asked curiously.

"Brian has gotten us a free dinner at the best and most expensive restaurant in Lilycove," Black Jack said.

"Does it have an all-you-can-eat buffet?" Jerry asked excitedly.

Black Jack slowly nodded in response.

"Oh boy!" Jerry said excitedly. "Brian and the restaurant are gonna be so sorry after I'm done with the food!"

"Wait a minute," Peach said. "What did you say to him?"

"We had words, that's all," Black Jack said, leaving the contest winners slightly confused. He turned towards Keith and Jerry and nodded towards them, hinting that he spoke to Brian about him and the other judges' attempt to end the show early, which they nodded back in response and understanding.

That night, while Black Jack and the others celebrated, Ruth sat on a roof of a building looking at the almost destroyed building that Rick and his comrades caused in the distance. She heard the news of Rick and the others arrested. "Don't you worry, brother," she said with anger and sorrow in her voice. "I'll avenge you."

The next early morning, Black Jack was outside of the pokemon center doing some exercise with his pokemon. "Black Jack," a voice called to him, catching his attention.

He turned to the person who called out his name. It was Dawn who called him out, along with Peach, Drew and his 'cubs'. Jerry was the only person who wasn't there; he was still at the pokemon center suffering from a stomachache after eating so much food the other night. "Thanks for everything," she said.

"Leaving already?" Black Jack asked.

"Yeah," Peach said. "It's a shame that Jerry isn't out here with us. I wanted to thank him."

"I'll do that for you," Black Jack replied.

"No need," Dawn said. "We want to thank him personally but we have places to go. Oh, and thanks for letting us know about Team Ocean. We'll keep an eye out for them."

"I hope so," Black Jack said.

"Hey!" Alice said. "Next time we meet, we can have a battle."

"That is a given," Drew said. "Then we'll see who the best there is out of the four of us… I.E: me."

"Drew, you and your arrogance," Keith said with a smirk on his face.

Everyone waved Black Jack and his 'cubs' goodbye as they walked their separate ways, knowing that they will meet again and never forgetting the big event they had.

Next episode: Black Jack and his cubs meet a professor who's over-protective of his disabled daughter. They also meet up with some old friends.  
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Since Christmas is coming close, I'd thought I'd make a PI version of **12 days of Christmas**. Here we go...

_On the **n**th battle with Black Jack, this is what he gave to me..._

12 Bones-a-breaking  
11 Joints-a-crippling  
10 Scars-a-making  
9 Burnt marks-a-marking  
8 Punches punching  
7 Kicks-a-kicking  
6 Body slamming  
5 Cracks on the skull  
4 Hyper Beams  
3 Lost teeth  
2 Black eyes  
And a big, fat busted lip

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I have a bit of bad news everybody... after you read this chapter, this fic will be put on hold because I'm going to have a very busy month (University work and such). Apologies for the inconvenience.

In the meantime, reviews please! And happy holidays, everyone!


	13. Episode 4, Chapter 1

**Episode 4: Helpless But Not Hopeless**

Chapter 1

As the morning sun was shining down, Black Jack was strolling down a forest outside Lilycove City. He stopped in the middle of the clear path and then slowly counted down the numbers, whispering to himself in a bored tone. "Three… two… one…"

He quickly and confidently bent down as a small black dog with yellow patterns on different parts of his body jumped down from a tree where he was hiding, in an attempt to catch him by surprise.

Failing that, the dark type pokemon missed him and lost his balance, falling on his front. Black Jack walked over and looked down on him.

"So you heard him, huh?" a spiky haired teen said, feeling slightly embarrassed, as he walked out from behind a tree.

"Bre…" his Umbreon said, also feeling embarrassed but not hurt, as he got up to his feet.

"Only… a lot," Black Jack replied to Keith. "Umbreon is still breathing too hard." He then turned his attention to the little dog. "Umbreon, you should relax and feel the lightness of your paws, that way you would be faster than a speeding a bullet and catch your victim out, no problem."

He heard a couple of bird pokemon squawking from a distance and turned his attention to that sound. He took out a pokeball and released his Nidoking from it.

"Nidoking, show Umbreon how you catch your prey… and this time, pounce on the victim that first comes into your view, okay? And make sure it's not a Nidoqueen," Black Jack said.

"(What are you talking about, Jack)?" Nidoking growled. "(It's not my fault those Nidoqueens like me)."

In nature, female pokemon would often go for the strongest male depending on their species. For instance, Black Jack's Nidoking, being one of the strongest Nidokings, had often attracted Nidoqueens and Nidorinas… much his fretfulness as he was so focused on his battles and exciting adventures that he, and Black Jack's other pokemon, became oblivious to this kind of nature.

"(Anyways)," Nidoking continued. "(Watch the master, little Umbreon, and learn)."

He turned his back towards them and quickly sprinted into the forest without making any noise. Despite his large figure, he was as quick as a Dodrio.

"Now, do you hear any noise that Nidoking is making?" Black Jack asked, trying to give Keith and Umbreon a lesson.

Before Keith could answer, a loud scream of a man was heard from a distance. "I've heard something now," Keith replied.

"That scream sounds familiar," Black Jack said as he quickly ran into the forest. "Come on, Keith."

The two humans and Umbreon ran down deep into the forest until they came across Nidoking holding his caught victim down. The victim was an old man wearing a lab coat with everyday clothing underneath; he also had grey hair and bushy eyebrows.

"Please don't hurt me," the old man cried in fear while Nidoking looked at him in puzzlement. "I never knew I was in your territory! I'm only here to do some exploring! I'll leave as soon as you get off me!"

"Prof. Oak?" Black Jack said in surprise, and then he changed his expression into a small frown as he rolled his eyes when he looked at what Nidoking was doing. "C'mon, Nidoking, get off him. He's not a Nidoqueen."

"(Oh, ha ha! Very funny)," Nidoking growled, sounding sarcastic as he helped Prof. Oak to his feet.

"What are you doing here?" Black Jack asked.

"I arrived to the pokemon center in Lilycove City late last night, along with Gary and Tracey," Prof. Oak replied. "Perhaps you remember them?"

"Yep, Gary's your grandson and scientist and Tracey's your assistant," Black Jack replied. "I wasn't there last night, been over at the local tavern while the kids were sleeping. Maybe they'll bump into each other today."

"I think so too," Prof. Oak replied and then he noticed Keith standing next to Black Jack. "Oh, and who might you be?"

"My name is Keith Marsden, Prof. Oak. It's a pleasure to finally meet you," Keith replied offering to shake his hand.

"Likewise," Prof. Oak replied as he kindly accepted his offer.

"We can talk while we get back to the pokemon center," Black Jack said as he returned his Nidoking. "The other cubs will be waking up soon."

As they walked through the forest, Black Jack and Prof. Oak were having a conversation while Keith and Umbreon looked around as though they were exploring. "So, Mr. Black Jack," Prof. Oak said. "What's been going on with you since we last met? It's been about three to four years since we last met, correct?"

"True," Black Jack said. "I went and joined Alice on her pokemon journey. While I was teaching her about pokemon and life, she was doing the best she can to be the best. She became a quarter finalist in the Johto League and a semi-finalist in the Kanto league. I also had my fair share of battling… and now, here we are."

"Quite impressive, Black Jack. With those titles, your teachings and her talent, I'm sure she'll become a pokemon master in no time."

"Thanks. So, what brings you here?"

"I recently received an e-mail from one of my former students Prof. Hale. He recently discovered an ancient writing carved in stone in a cave from one of the Sevii Islands and sent me a few images of them; some of them had carvings of some rare pokemon, like Mew. I checked those writings when I looked through my notes and books but they don't seem to match or make any sense. Therefore, I thought that I should go there and do some research there."

"Interesting. Inviting anyone?"

"Why yes. I invited others that you're quite familiar with but I shan't tell you yet for security reasons. There's one more professor coming along as well, but I don't think you met him before."

"Try me."

"His name is Prof. Kesner."

"Never heard of him."

"That's hardly surprising. You see, not many of us hear much from him because he spends most of his time giving his daughter, Christie, some home education while his does research outside his teaching hours."

"Schools far away from their home I take it?"

"No, Black Jack. It's a sad story. One night, long time ago, his family was involved in a car accident. His wife never survived it and his daughter's legs suffered an injury so bad that she could no longer walk."

"Man, that's bad," Black Jack said, feeling the sadness of that story.

"Since then, Prof. Kesner feared for his daughter's health and life and decided to take care of her from that day forward. He knew that he needed a backup plan so he caught a Gastly, which is now a Gengar, and they both trained him to protect her from danger."

"So how old is the daughter?"

"I'm not sure, it's been a long time since I last met them. My guess is that she's fourteen years old. She is qualified to take an examination to become a pokemon trainer but I don't think she intends to because of her disability."

"I'm thinking otherwise, Oak," Black Jack thought to himself in suspicion.

Meanwhile, at the poekmon center cafeteria, a number of trainers and visitors were having their breakfast. Alice, Cassandra, Wally, and their pokemon finished their breakfast and talked about Alice's contest performance and the event with Team Ocean while Jerry continued guzzling on a huge number of pancakes.

"…And for the first time, Jerry and Keith were getting along," Alice said positively. "Isn't that right, Jerry?"

"Not now, Alice, I'm eating pancakes here," Jerry said back as he continued scoffing up the pancakes. Alice gave him a dull look in response.

"Didn't he suffer from a stomach ache the other day?" Wally asked.

"Yeah," Alice replied. "But somehow he recovered very quickly."

"Ah… that was good," Jerry said breathlessly as he tossed his fork down on the plate. "I'm stuffed like a Snorlax."

"He'll be sleeping like one next," Cassandra whispered to Wally, making him let out a small chuckle.

"Is that you, Alice Hummingburg?" said a young man's voice.

Everyone turned to his attention. He had black short hair with a red headband around his forehead. He also had a white lab coat over his green-buttoned shirt and jeans, along with his red and white trainers.

Alongside him was another young man with spiky brown hair and a face that a lot of girls would fall in love with. He, too, was also a lab coat over his blue-buttoned shirt, black trousers and brown shoes. Alice gasped with surprise when she recognised them both. "Tracey and Gary!" she said.

"Hi, Alice," Tracey and Gary said in unison.

"How are things?" Tracey continued.

"Everything's going great," Alice replied as she stood up from her seat. "Let me introduce you to everyone. You two remember Cassandra and Wally?" she asked as she pointed to the young teens while they shook hands with them. Then, a loud snoring was heard and came from Jerry who was sleeping in his chair after eating a huge breakfast. "That's Jerry," she finished nervously with anime sweat drop appeared on her forehead. "He's a pokemon trainer."

She then introduced the pokemon to them and Tracey took out his small notepad and quickly drew pictures of each of them. Anytime he saw a pokemon with fascinating features, he would always draw sketches of them.

"So, Alice," Gary said while Tracey drew sketches the pokemon. "How's your uncle?"

"He's fine. He left a note in my room this morning saying that he's out training with Keith. He's also a friend of mine."

"So what kind of damages has Black Jack been doing?" Gary asked jokingly.

Alice showed a slightly serious face and motioned him to come closer so they could talk privately. They spoke about their recent encounters with Team Ocean and should be kept a secret between them for now.

"So, what brings you here?" Cassandra asked Tracey.

"Well, Prof. Oak is here and…" Tracey said before he was interrupted.

"What? The Prof. Oak?" Wally said surprised.

"Wally, you met him before," Cassandra said, sounding slightly dull.

"I know but still he's still the most popular guy around here."

"Anyway," Tracey continued. "He's here in Lilycove city and tomorrow we'll be taking a boat to the Seveii Islands. One of Prof. Oak's former students, Prof. Hale discovered some ancient drawings that we couldn't understand so we decided to go take a look ourselves."

"Can we come and help?" Cassandra asked. "I am on holiday from my high school and Wally's still travelling."

"I'm sure the professor will allow it," Tracey said.

"Hey, kids," a familiar man's voice said, getting everyone's attention. "What's going on?

"Hey, guys," the others said as they saw Black Jack, Keith, Umbreon and Prof. Oak coming into the cafeteria.

"Hey, Professor," Tracey said. "I was just telling Cassandra and Wally about our upcoming project. They were wondering if they could come."

"Why, of course," Oak replied. "If anyone's interested they can come aboard."

"Hey, can we come, Prof. Oak?" Alice asked in a hopeful tone.

"Maybe you better ask your uncle."

"Can I, uncle?"

"Well… we can go to somewhere new and fresh here," Black Jack said thoughtfully. "Why not. I just hope they have good drinks and trainers there."

"Hello," said a nervous man's voice, getting their attention. As they turned their attention to him they saw a middle aged man in an old brown jacket over his white buttoned shirt and black tie. He also had short black hair, black trousers, brown shoes and a pair of glasses.

Behind him was a ghost type pokemon Gengar, who was pushing a wheelchair that had a young blond girl sitting on it. She had a short-sleeved buttoned shirt with a pink vest over it. She also had a tight pink skirt that reached down her knees, white socks and a pair of black shoes.

"Ah, Prof. Kesner and Christie," Oak said in slight surprise. "Good to see you. How are you?"

"Quite well, Prof. Oak," Kesner replied nervously. "I see you brought a couple of friends with you."

"Ah, yes. Let me introduce you to everyone," Prof. Oak said. He introduced everyone to him, including Jerry who was still sleeping. Kesner then introduced Christie, his daughter, and Gengar, who's nickname was Shakespeare because of his liking for the stories of his favourite poet.

Black Jack motioned for Christie to come over to them while Oak and Kesner discussed on their plans for the research and travelling. Slightly hesitant of her father, she moved her head towards Shakespeare and nodded and the Gengar pushed her wheelchair over to them.

"So, Christie," Alice said, starting a conversation. "What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a home student," Christie said. "You're all pokemon trainers, right?"

Everyone nodded, saying yes simultaneously but in their own words. She mentioned that she wanted to be a pokemon trainer but her paralysed legs made her unable to do so.

"Y'know," Black Jack said. "To me, it doesn't matter what you're suffering from. If you can just set your mind and heart to it then anything's possible. Believe me, I've been on the injury list myself."

Christie looked up at Black Jack as she intently heard what he said. She thought that in some ways, Black Jack made a point about being a pokemon trainer.

As the conversation continued, Kesner noticed his daughter talking with 'strangers', much to his discomfort.

"Something wrong, Prof. Kesner?" Oak asked.

"It's Christie," Kesner said worriedly. "Oak, you're the only person I still trust since my wife died. Tell me, do they look like strangers to you?"

"Of course not," Oak said. "I know how concerned you can get, my friend. But trust me, you're daughter's now in safe hands."

"And what about Black Jack? I heard some bad things about him."

"Yes, I know he can be a different person at times but he would never hurt a child."

"Perhaps we should continue to discuss our research in one of the spare rooms privately."

"Agreed," Oak said as he turned towards the young ones. "Listen, everyone," Oak said getting their attention. "Prof. Kesner, Gary and I have a few plans to discuss in the other room. Do any one of you have plans?"

"I got a motorbike to fix," Black Jack said.

"Since we're going to the Seveii Islands, then I'm thinking about getting a few things for my parents. They like to get souvenirs from different cities," she said. The others think they should also go shopping with her for more supplies.

They invited Christie to come with them. "I think not," Kesner replied. "I'm afraid that she has to remain here with Shakespeare."

"Why's that?" Black Jack asked.

"I… I want her to be safe," Kesner said nervously. "Besides, it's her first time in this city so she might get lost."

Black Jack looked over to Oak, wondering if he should reason with Kesner. Knowing what he wanted to do, he shook his head signalling a no.

"Tell you what, I think that she could do with a little sightseeing on the beach. It's not far from here and she could do with some company next to Shakespeare."

"Will she be in trouble?" Kesner asked, slightly hesitant.

"She won't be far away from us, she'll be fine. What could happen?"

Kesner gave this a long thought. "Very well, but who are you going to recommend?"

A familiar snore gave Black Jack a clue. He looked over to Jerry, who was still sleeping through every conversation that had just occurred after his breakfast. He walked over to him and slammed his hand on the table in front of him, on the table waking him up.

Jerry quickly moved his head around in shock. He then looked up at the frowning Black Jack, who was looking down on him. "I'm sorry," Black Jack said in a false apologetic way. "Did I wake you?"  
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More coming! Reviews please!


	14. Episode 4, Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

While everyone else were undertaking their activities for the day, Jerry undertook his by accompanying Christie, Dr. Kesner's disabled child, around the beach, along with Shakespeare, Christie's Gengar.

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream," Jerry sang in a goofy voice while he pushed the wheelchair with Christie sitting on it while Shakespeare walked beside them. "If you see a totodile, give him some double cream."

Christie let out a small chuckle as they got to the beach. "Hey, you like that one too," Jerry said happily. "Now, let me see if I can think of another one."

"Um… Jerry," Christie said. "I'm wondering if we can stop here for a while."

"Sure," Jerry replied as he stopped pushing the wheelchair. He walked next to Christie and sat down on the sandy beach, as did Shakespeare. Silence became between them as they looked at the beautiful waves of the sea moving in and out.

"Er, Jerry," Christie said, catching her new friend's attention. "What's it like being a trainer?"

"Well…" Jerry started as he laid his back on the sand. "For me, it's like a part of my dream come true. You get to walk around grassy places, you get to meet different kinds of pokemon, participate in many battles, make new discoveries, that kind of stuff.

"I also wanted to meet and be like other pokemon masters, Lance Dragonheart, Karen Darkshade, Wallace Seawave, Ash Ketchum and all that."

He let out a small sigh. "After four years of training, I was about to give up and with good reason that I never won a pokemon battle."

Christie and Shakespeare's eyes widened with shock when he said that. "Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have said that," he continued said noticeably. "That was until I met my boss, Black Jack. He's given me a new as a trainer and we've been training… a lot."

He sat up from his lying position and looked back at the sea waves with determined eyes. "Maybe one day," he continued. "Maybe one day I'll be a pokemon master like those guys… and the boss."

"Er… I don't want this to be uncomfortable but you didn't tell anyone else about that little secret, right?" Christie asked.

"Only Alice, the boss, and Keith," Jerry replied. "You won't tell anyone will ya?"

"I promise," Christie said in an assuring tone. She then turned her attention to the ghost-type pokemon. "And Shakespeare, can you not say anything too?"

"(Of course)," Shakespeare replied in his normal scratchy voice. "(If one cannot keep secrets that he bear in mind, he must find friends that he can trust in heart)."

"Don't worry, he likes to use long sentences," Christie said to Jerry. After spending a long time with her Gengar, she fully understood the language he spoke.

"Don't worry about that, I don't know what he's saying anyway," Jerry replied. "Anyone want some ice cream?"

Suddenly a huge splash from underneath the sea, surprising them as they let out huge gasps. After the big splash, a blue submarine occurred from the sea.

"Great, Team Ocean." Jerry moaned.

Meanwhile, outside the pokemon centre, Black Jack was busy attaching the sidecar to the motorcycle while his pokemon trained themselves by battling each other. "There, done," Black Jack said as he tossed a wrench aside and turned his attention to his pokemon. "Who wants to help me test drive?"

That caught everyone's attention; they were hesitant because they knew what Black Jack can be like with his prized vehicle. "Chan, how about you?" Black Jack said as he pointed to the fiery fighter Blaziken.

"(Never)," Chan said while moving his clawed paws in a negative way. "(If I was Mr. Ketchum's Pikachu, I'd rather be stuck inside a pokeball rather than sit on the vehicle)."

"Chan, you're the only guy who can fit in the sidecar. Alice and the others are busy."

Chan was still reluctant to get inside the sidecar, knowing what Black Jack was capable of. "(Chan)," Nidoking growled. "(When we were facing a bunch of Ursaring one time, what did you say when one of them slammed you like rag doll)?"

"(Ouchie)?" Chan replied, sounding as though he couldn't exactly remember.

"(No, you said nothing)," Ferliagatr growled. "(You just stood up and looked at him in the face, wanting give more and get more. You ought to sum up that same bravery you had there and get your downed butt in that sidecar)."

Chan let out a small breath out of his beak. "(Well, we did lose teeth here and there)," he said, trying to sound positive while giving the idea some thought. "(I'll give it one more try)."

He walked over to sidecar and leapt into it while Black Jack sat in his respective seat and started up his vehicle engine making Chan slightly nervous. As Black Jack accelerated the bike, the vehicle sped like a speeding bullet, much to the shock of the pokemon, especially Chan.

Back at the beach, Jerry and his friends was seeing the submarine emerging from the water. A hatch opened from the top of the submarine and two figures climbed out of it and stood in front of it. One was a woman with blond that reached down to her shoulder blades and the other was a man with short green hair, both were wearing striped t-shirts underneath their jean jackets, a pair of jeans and a pair of seviper-quilted boots each.

"Prepare for deep trouble," the woman said.

"Make it an impact of a double," the man said.

"To drown those who oppose against us."

"To wash out those who deny us."

"To increase the depth of the sea."

"To make sure that it's meant to be."

"Genghis."

"Kahn."

"Team Ocean, sailing the seven seas all day and night."

"Surrender to us now or you'll definitely lose this fight."

"That rhyming kinda sounds familiar," Jerry said suspiciously as he placed finger on his chin. "Are you guys originally from some jokers club, or was it some other guys?"

"Oh, nice one," Genghis said smugly. "Did Black Jack teach you that joke like the other things he taught you?"

Jerry gnarled his teeth. "In case you haven't noticed, kid," Kahn said in a scratchy voice. "We've been following you around since you put up a fight in that Pokemon contest event and we figured that you might be the weakest trainer of the group."

"So that's your game, pick on the weak" Jerry said. "That's the coward's way out. What do you want with me anyway?"

"As bait for Black Jack. He has a soft spot for kids like you," Kahn said. "And we'll be taking the girl along with us."

Jerry's eyes widened with surprise and annoyance. "Hey, leave the girl out of this!" he yelled. "If it's me you want, you're gonna have to battle me first!"

"Sorry, kid. But one of our orders is to not allow any witnesses to escape," Genghis said as she took out her pokeball off her belt. "Go! Shellshock!" she yelled as she tossed it out, which released a strange red energy that materialised into a large purple shell with spikes on various parts of it. It opened revealing a small black head with a sinister looking face.

"Go! Swashbuckler!" Kahn instructed as he tossed his pokeball, releasing a pokemon of his own. This time it was a blue mud fish pokemon that had a flat tail, a white stomach and chest and orange fins on each cheek.

"Huh, a Swarmpert," Jerry said. "To make things fair, I'm gonna choose two of mine."

He picked out two of his pokeballs off his belt. "Zapster! Jacky! Go get'm!" he yelled as he tossed them out, releasing the Kicking pokemon and a small yellow mouse with a red spot on each cheek. The Hitmonlee stood in his fighting stance and the Pikachu stood confidently with his forelegs crossed.

Jerry then turned towards Christie and Shakespeare. "Shakespeare, get Christie outta here," he said. "I'll hold them off." Shakespeare nodded, knowing the dangers that could happen if they remained on the beach.

Shakespeare quickly grabbed the handles of the wheelchair while Christie remained seated and ran away while pushing the wheelchair. Christie looked back to Jerry with worried eyes.

"Swashbuckler!" Kahn yelled. "Get the girl!"

The large Swarmpert ran on all fours and started to give chase on Christie and Shakespeare. Sensing what Swashbuckler was trying to do, he quickly gave an order. "Zapster! Use your Thundershock to stop that Swarmpert!" he yelled.

The Pikachu leapt into the air and powered his electrical as his red cheeks began to spark. He then let out a huge battle cry as he released a streak of lightning from his body aiming for the mud fish pokemon, who saw the attack and instinctively jumped back at the last second.

"My two buddies may be a couple of easy pickings for you," Jerry said. "But first you gotta get pass me!"

"It'll be our pleasure," Genghis replied arrogantly. "Since you are at a disadvantage, we'll let out have the first move."

"Ha! Pleasure's all mine," Jerry said. "Zapster! Use your Thunderbolt on Swrampert! Jacky! Hi Jump Rolling Kick on that Cloyster!"

His two pokemon attempted to attack their enemies simultaneously as they ran towards them and leapt into the air. Jacky leapt towards the shell pokemon with his trademark kick while the Pikachu let out his battle cry while shooting out another streak of lightning out his body.

Shakespeare ran a distance away while pushing the wheelchair with Christie on it. "Shakespeare, hold on a second," she said loudly, catching the Gengar's attention.

"(What is it, Christie)?" Shakespeare asked, wanting to know.

Christie was silent, she was deeply concerned for Jerry, yet she was also concerned about her father worrying about her. He was always protective of her and strict with her at the same time.

"I want to help him," Christie said. "But I can't do this without your help."

Shock appeared on Shakespeare's face. "(But child)," he replied. "(Your father despises you getting into danger… you know what he's like, even if it's a small scratch)."

"That's the risk I'm willing to take, Shakespeare. We now know about Jerry's inability of winning, he may not stand a chance against them."

"(I don't have much experience in battling either. All I can do is scare others with my hypnosis and others)."

"And that's what saved me and my dad. Remember the times when we first met and you scared that burglar away?"

-Flashback-

Christie, when she was just a little child, was sleeping in a small comfortable bed. The room was pitch-black. Outside her bedroom window, a shady character wearing rugged clothing carefully opened it with a break-in device.

He was able to fit in through the window. He took out a torch and switched it on, shooting out a stream of light. He moved it around the room until he inadvertently aimed it at Christie's face. She woke up and stirred because of the light.

When she opened her eyes, she saw him holding a knife. She shook with fear, ready to scream for help. "Don't make a sound," he warned quietly. "Or I'll cut you up so bad that you wish I didn't."

"Gastly…" a ghostly voice said. The burglar turned around, moving the torch towards the voice's direction. No one was there. He continued moving his torch around to catch someone who made that voice until he saw a small ball of gas, with devilish looking eyes and vampire-like mouth.

"Don't come near me, I got a knife," the thief warned fearfully. Christie was quite of the creature as well.

Despite his warning, the ball of gas slowly hovered towards, still menacingly looking at him. Out of instinct, the thief went to stab the gas but it went right through, much to his shock. Gastly responded by licking him in the face, making him shiver with completely awkwardness.

"GA-A-A-AS!" the creature yelled, making the thief scream in fright and jump out of the window. A loud thud was heard from below and Christie got out of her bed and ran towards the window, hoping that he wasn't hurt badly despite the threat he made.

"Ow! My leg!" the thief yelled in pain. "I think it's broken! I don't think I can…oh, a penny!" he continued, ending his painful yelling with a slight surprise in his tone when he found that small coin.

-End Flashback-

Shakespeare indeed remembered. Ever since that moment, he and Christie became best friends and protected from every danger that occurred to her, thus getting stronger with his scaring and hypnotic skills.

"I know we can do this, Shakespeare," Christie said in an assuring manner. "We would be able to say that we helped Jerry beat those bad guys and dad won't even worry anymore."

"(I'm not sure about this)," the Gengar said hesitantly.

"Please…" Christie pleaded.

Shakespeare looked back, not knowing what to do…

Meanwhile, while they were talking, both Zapster and Jacky were aiming their attacks against their opponents.

"Swashbuckler, stand your ground," Kahn said confidently.

"Shellshock, withdraw," Genghis instructed.

Jacky attempted to slam his leg on top Cloyster but the Water type pokemon quickly closed his shell, blocking the Hitmonlee's attack when he slammed his foot right on the hard-as-diamond shell and hurting himself in the process as he hopped away holding his hurt anatomy.

Meanwhile, Zapster's lightning attack was aiming for Swashbuckler, who was standing confidently despite the Pikachu's strong attack coming towards him. The move connected as the streak of electricity surrounded his entire body. After the attack evaporated the Swarmpert stood unfazed, much to Jerry's and Zapster's shock.

"Surprise, surprise, blondie," Kahn said. "Now, Swashbuckler! Mud Shot attack!"

Swashbuckler ran towards the little rodent while his fist glowed vigorously, picking up some sand with his paws and spraying it with his water gun out of his mouth; he then attempted to throw it at the opposition. "Dodge it, Zapster!" Jerry yelled.

Zapster obeyed as he barely dodged Swashbuckler's attack, making the small wet sand splat on the ground instead. Yet, Kahn still had a confident look on his face. "Swashbuckler! Slam Attack!" he instructed.

Swarmpert, with his long forelegs, quickly grabbed him and slammed him on the sandy ground. He then continued to push his face down in order to suffocate him. "Zapster's in trouble!" Jerry said. He turned towards his Hitmonlee who was still hoping on one leg while holding his hurt foot. "Jacky! Help Zapster with your tackle attack!"

Jacky quickly hopped on his one leg and slammed his body next to the Swarmpert's, knocking him down. He then helped his partner but he shoved him away and angrily looked at Jerry. "Hey! It wasn't me that was shoving your face in there!" Jerry said, realising what his Pikachu was going to do.

"PIKACHU!" the rodent yelled as he shot out a huge spark of lightning, shocking his trainer. When the attack stopped, Jerry fell to the floor.

His four enemies witnessed this and let out some huge laughs. "Not funny!" Jerry yelled as he quickly sat back up. "Zapster! Use your Thundershock!"

Zapster, still angry at his trainer, let out another streak of lightning at him again. "Not on me!" Jerry cried while getting electrocuted before falling down again. "Jacky," he said, with his back on the ground, loudly yet weakly while pointing at Swashbuckler. "High… Jump… Kick…"

The kicking pokemon towards the water/ground type pokemon and quickly hopped towards him, aiming a kick to the face. "Swashbuckler," Kahn yelled. "Dodge it and slam your Dynamic Punch on that rat!"

"Shellshock, tackle that Hitmonlee!" Genghis yelled.

The Swarmpert ran towards Jacky and dodged his High Jump Kick attack while his fist glowed vigorously and slammed it on the back of the head of Zapster, knocking him unconscious and sending him flying, until he fell next to Jerry while the shell pokemon leapt and knocked Jacky down. Knowing what happened, Jerry took out a pokeball off his belt and zapped his Pikachu back inside. "You got a serious anger management problem," Jerry said groggily. "I ought to talk to the boss about you."

He sat slowly sat back up, shaking the dizziness off his head and looked back at the battlefield. He and his Hitmonlee were now at the disadvantage against Team Ocean pair and their pokemon. Despite the numbers' game, Jerry and Hitmonlee never planned on giving up and surrendering themselves as Jacky shook the pain off his foot and stood in his fighting stance.

"You still want to go at it, pretty boy?" Genghis said smugly.

"Or aren't you going to be a good little doggy and come to daddy?" Kahn mocked.

"I still want to go at it, Genghis and Kang," Jerry said, mocking them back.

"It's Kahn!" Kahn said angrily. "Didn't you hear our introduction earlier?"

"Jerry!" a girl yelled, catching everyone's attention. They saw Christie and Shakespeare running back on the battle scene.

"Christie!" Jerry said in surprise. "I thought I said for you to get outta here!"

"Did you actually think we'd leave you here?" Christie said.

"Well, well, well," Genghis said arrogantly. "Here's she comes to save the day."

"And we'll be wrecking yours, fish balls!" Jerry yelled back. "Jacky! Rolling Kick!"

While they battled, Black Jack rode his motorcycle towards the beach and made an immediate stop with the wide-eyed Blaziken in the sidecar. "Enjoyed the ride?" Black Jack asked.

"(So fast)," Chan said giddily. "(Just… so… fast)."

A huge thud sound caught their attention as they turned towards it. They saw Jerry, Christie and their pokemon battling against the opposition. "(Shall we help them)?" Chan asked when he saw Jacky blocking Swarmpert's Dynamic Punch attack.

"As much as I want to crack some skulls today, I want to see what happens in this," Black Jack said. "What I'm missing right now is a hot dog and a beer but forget it."

With that said, they continued watching the battle scene. Despite that they were close by, the young ones were too busy battling to notice.

"Shakespeare! Use your Confuse Ray!" Christie yelled as she pointed at Shellshock.

The eyes of the Gengar glowed vigorously purple as he shot a purple beam out of the palms of his paws towards the water/ice pokemon. "Shellshock! Protect yourself!" Genghis yelled. Her shell pokemon quickly closed his shell, avoiding getting hit from the attack.

Jerry and Christie looked at each other and nodded as though they thought up the same plan. "Shakespeare! Use your Shadow Ball!" Christie instructed.

The Gengar moved his paws in front of him and grew a black energy ball in between until it was big enough to cause a lot of damage. He then threw fireball towards the shell pokemon. "Waste of energy," Genghis said arrogantly. "Shellshock! Protect!"

The Cloyster quickly closed his shell again, protecting himself from any attack.

"Aim your Shadow Ball at Swarmpert!" Christie yelled.

"What?" Genghis yelled in shock as Shakespeare motioned his paws into another direction while using his psychic abilities to quickly the dark energy ball, which was millimetre's away from hitting the water/ice type pokemon, into another direction.

On another side of the battle scene, Hitmonlee ran towards and jumped to perform a horizontal spin kick towards Swashbuckler's head but missed as the Swarmpert ducked down. "Swashbuckler! Use your Dynamic Punch again!"

Swarmpert, from his ducking position, powered his fist, glowing it vigorously and went for an uppercut but barely missed as Jacky moved slightly backwards upon hearing Jerry's command to dodge it, much to Kahn's shock. It was then that the Shadow Ball that Shakespeare created collided into the Swarmpert, creating an explosion on impact. "No way!" Kahn yelled.

"Now's your chance, Jacky!" Jerry yelled. "Use your Mega Kick!"

Jacky quickly jumped onto his opponent's shoulder and slammed his foot right in Sawrmpert's face with all his might to knock him down flat on his back. "This is not right!" Kahn yelled in disbelief.

"Don't look at me, Kain!" Genghis yelled. "It's not my fault!"

"The name is Khan!" Khan yelled, frustrated.

"Do it now, Jacky!" Jacky yelled. "Use your Dizzy Punch!"

"Dizzy Punch?" Christie asked in a puzzled way. "I thought only Kangaskahn can do that?"

"Yeah, but not this way," Jerry said with a happy and confident look on his face. "Take a look here!"

The Hitmonlee stood near the Swarmpert's head and bent down, waving his three-fingered paw between his face and his opponent's. "(You can't see me!)" He yelled before dropping his clenched fist onto his head. Swarmpert quickly stood up after feeling the force and pain of that punch, walking around in a dizzy fashion. "C'mon, Swashbuckler! Snap out of it!" Kahn yelled desperately.

"You got the everything to beat me except guts and heart!" Jerry yelled. "Okay, Jacky! While he's being dizzy, Body Slam attack!"

Jacky quickly ducked down and hoisted up the heavier and bigger Swarmpert, placing his front on top of his shoulders, shocking the members of Team Ocean. "This cannot be!" Kahn yelled as the Hitmonlee slammed his opponent's back onto the sandy ground, causing a small earthquake and knocking him unconscious because of the pain he suffered from that attack.

"As the ref would say, 'Swashbuckler's unable to battle'," Jerry said confidently.

"This can't be happening!" Kahn yelled in disbelief as he pressed his hands on each side of his, looking at his defeated Swarmpert. "This is not fair!"

"Life's not fair!" Jerry yelled. "I've lost a lot battles and now you're gonna feel the same!"

After seeing what happened, Shellshock cowardly closed his shell in order to protect himself from any danger. "C'mon, Shellshock!" Genghis yelled, annoyed. "Come out of your shell and fight!"

"Cloyster! Cloyster!" Shellshock hissed negatively as he shook from side to die, signalling a 'no'.

Jacky and Shakespeare and their trainers looked at the Cloyster with puzzled looks, noticing that he was not faking his fear after seeing what happened. "(Ah-ha)!" the Hitmonlee said as he held his finger up. He walked over to him and gave his shell some light knocks as though he was knocking on the door. "(Hey, buddy)," he said in a positive, happy tone. "(If you open up, I'll give you a nice and special surprise)."

"(Really? What?)" Shellshock hissed as he opened up, revealing his face and receiving a devastating kick from Hitmonlee.

"(That)," the Hitmonlee replied after knocking out his opponent and jumping back to his trainer.

"I can't believe he actually fell for that," Jerry said, still with a smirk on his face.

"Darn it all!" Genghis as she and her partner returned their pokemon to their pokeballs. "We're going to have to use plan B!"

Kahn quickly jumped back into the submarine and climbed back up holding a cannon on his shoulder. "You brats can either come with us or get in the net."

"That's not fair," Christie yelled. "Are you saying that we lost either way?"

Shakespeare ran towards the opposition and his eyes glowed purple and slowly motioned his paws in a circular motion. The Team Ocean partners curiously looked down on him and slowly became dizzy while the Gengar chanted his own name numerous times.

"We like living in the submarine," they said in a hypnotised manner, much to curiosity of the young ones.

"Gengar, gengar, gengar," Shakespeare chanted quietly as he continued to hypnotise Genghis and Kahn.

"We're going to ride back to our group," they said in unison, still being hypnotised. "And Backstreet Boys was the best boy band since New Kids on the Block."

They slowly went back into the submarine and closed the top of it and drove back into the ocean. "Hey!" Jerry yelled. "Come back any time, suckers!"

After Team Ocean was gone, both Jerry and Christie expressed their joy battling side by side with each other. "Jerry, you and Jacky are fantastic!" Christie exclaimed. "I liked the way Jacky kicked Swarmpert's head!"

"Heh! That was nothing compared to you guiding that Shadow Ball attack and into that mud fish!" Jerry exclaimed positively. "If it wasn't for you, I..."

As they continued talking, Black Jack and Chan saw this as the time to get back to the pokemon centre. "Impressive," Black Jack said. "You agree with me?"

"(Of course)," Chan replied. "(If they continue to improve, we may have another equal)."

"Most unlikely," Black Jack said as he started up his motorbike, driving away from the scene.

That night at the pokemon centre, everyone came back from their day's activities and had dinner in the cafeteria and chatted about what they did during that day. "So, Christie," Prof. Kesner said. "How was your day?"

Before she could answer, Black Jack got up from his seat and took his bottle of beer with him. "I off to get some air," he said, predicting what was coming, much to everyone's curiosity.

Christie quickly placed her knife and fork on the table. "I had such a blast!" she said excitedly, unable to contain it. "Jerry and I were having a pokemon battle with a couple of bullies and..."

She continued on talking about her day like it was the best day ever, along with Jerry who kept on complimenting her battling skills and her pokemon. "How does Black Jack do this?" Prof. Oak thought to himself, remembering the moment when Black Jack left the table. He then noticed his colleague, Prof. Kesner, leaving the table.

"I'm off to the bathroom," Prof. Kesner said.

"I'll join you," Prof. Oak said as he also got up from his seat, leaving the young ones to continue listening to the battle scene that Jerry and Christie were describing.

They both entered the men's bathroom and Kesner started to wash his hands as did Prof. Oak. "So, Lenny," Prof. Oak said. "Any thoughts about her adventure?"

"I'm not sure, Samuel," Kesner said, sounding slightly guilty. "You know how overprotective I am about my daughter. Yet, I feel sad and guilty that she doesn't get such exciting and memorable moments that I had when I was her age. After seeing that smile on her face, it made me happy. Maybe she got this joy for adventures from me... but still..."

He let out a small sigh, not knowing what to do. "What should I do, Samuel?" he asked.

Oak placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Maybe you ought to give her a chance," he said. "With Shakespeare's psychic skills, her knowledge and her courage, she will always do the best she can."

"We both know very well that the world is still a very dangerous place... especially those 'bullies' that she was talking about. If you could send me a Pokemon Trainer application form I will give this time to think and maybe I'll send it back to you, granting that she may become a pokemn trainer."

He walked out of the bathroom, leaving Oak behind drying his hands with a tissue cloth. "I hope you will, my friend. I hope you will."

Outside of the pokemon centre, Black Jack and his pokemon were a distance away from the building, relaxing against a tree. They were thinking numerous thoughts about how a young, helpless, but not hopeless, child, to be able to defeat a couple of opponents. "(In my opinion)," Tyranitar growled. "(I think that she and Shakespeare have more guts than all of us put together)."

With that, everyone agreed.

Next episode: Black Jack, his 'cubs' and associates travel to the Seveii Islands and Black Jack talks about old times to a familiar face.  
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More coming! Reviews please!


	15. Episode 5, Chapter 1

**Episode 5: Remembering**

Chapter 1

"Well, boss," Jerry said as he and his friends stood at the port. "It looks like we're gonna have a nice day for it."

He was correct. It was a nice sunny day for a cruise ship trip to one of the Seveii Islands, and news had it that wasn't going to rain for a day or so, which it would take for the ship to arrive to that location. Each passenger was carrying their own backpacks and luggage.

Everyone walked up onto the ramp and on board the ship where they were welcomed by a medium built, bearded old man in a captain's uniform. "Welcome, Prof. Oak," he said politely with a smile on his face. "On behalf of Prof. Hale, I hope that you and your friends enjoy the cruise."

"You got a tavern here?" Black Jack asked.

"Of course, sir," the captain replied, giving him the directions of how to get there.

"It's eleven in the morning, Black Jack," Oak said, surprised that his companion wanted to have an alcoholic drink early in the day. "Can't you have them later?"

"I'm going to walk around for a while. You cubs do whatever you want," Black Jack said, ignoring what Oak said while walking away. "Just don't get in trouble."

"By the way, captain," Prof. Oak said, deciding. "Has my other guests arrived yet?"

"Why yes, sir," the captain said. "Everyone is on board."

"Alice, you don't seem to be worried by this," Prof. Kesner said, sounding worried for Black Jack's niece.

"Oh, don't worry," Alice replied, with assurance in her tone. "He likes to take a walk around on his own every now and again."

"What about his drinking habits?"

"He does drink a lot but not once has he got drunk so I have no worries about that."

Prof. Kesner's eyes widened with shock. "I guess he has this body system that is immune to alcohol," he said.

Meanwhile in one of the locations, Black Jack slowly walked through corridors, suspicious of what might occur during this cruise trip. The floor was made from polished wood and there were numerous doors that lead to different guest rooms. While he strolled, he spotted a small yellow rodent running across the halls and sensed a presence familiar to him but he didn't care.

Back to Alice and friends, they too were taking a little stroll around the ship. Oak and Kesner were not with them as they decided to look for their rooms and talk about their past discoveries. Soon, Jerry came to a sudden halt and sniffed out a scent, much to his friends' curiosity.

"What is it, Jerry?" Cassandra asked.

Jerry walked into another direction while the others followed. They soon came into a room there were numerous tables and chairs were placed neatly, people in uniforms doing their jobs and food was being served to other guests. It was the cafeteria.

"You had us follow you around for that?" Christie asked. "You just had breakfast, Jerry,"

Jerry looked back them with a dull look on his face as a growling noise occurred from his stomach. That was his response.

"You can if want to," Alice said, letting out a sigh. "Just don't get yourself a stomach ache like last time."

"And don't worry us again unless it's important, man," Keith said with a frown as he and his other friends walked out.

"Hey, wait a sec," Jerry called. "Where will I find you guys when I finish my snack?"

"I spotted a sign that said 'battling hall' while we were following you," Keith said. "Suppose we could meet up there?"

"Where was that?" Jerry asked scratching his head.

"We just…" Wally started, and then he remembered that Jerry was only following his nose while running towards. "It's just down that hall and then to your left," he answered while showing him the directions.

"Great," Jerry said as his stomach growled even more. "Patience, my pet," he said evilly as he gently patted his hand on his gut while walking to the counter.

As he walked away, everyone else walked out of the cafeteria to make their way to the battling hall.

Meanwhile, Black Jack visited the tavern. Numerous tables and chair were placed in different locations of the room and a number of drinks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, were behind the counter. A man in a waiter's uniform, a chubby face and a flat top haircut, quickly rose up from behind the counter. Despite the man's quick appearance, Black Jack wasn't at least surprised as he walked over to the counter. "I'll have a beer," he said as he tossed a dollar note on it.

"Right away, sir," the man said as he ducked down and picked up a bottle of his favourite beverage.

Black Jack grabbed hold of the bottle and took the bottle cap off with his teeth and spat it out into a nearby bin. He took a swig of beer as he began to walk out, spotting the same rodent running into another direction. "Him again," he said.

Back at the cubs' location, they arrived at the battling hall where numerous trainers were battling each other. There were ten battle fields in the room with trainers were battling in single or tag team battles. One field in particular had a crowd of people and pokemon surrounding it, observing the match. Interested of what was going on, Alice and her friends walked over to that particular field.

As they arrived, they saw two trainers battling each other. One of them was more recognisable than the other, especially for Alice. He was about the same age as her was wearing a green t-shirt, white thick trousers, black trainers, a pair of glasses and had black short hair. He was battling with a huge white furry gorilla like pokemon, Slaking, who was resting on his side and scratching his belly, against another trainer who was battling with his with a smaller gorilla like creature, Primeape, who appeared to have a vain throbbing in his head.

"Okay, Primeape!" yelled one of the trainers. "Use your Mach Punch attack!"

The Primeape, with the speed of a shot out bullet, ran towards the lazy Slaking. "Slaking! Use your Endure!" the other trainer instructed.

The Slaking didn't appear to be moving despite his trainer's command as the angry pokemon slammed his fist right in his gut. To everyone's surprise, the Slaking wasn't even fazed despite receiving a strong fighting move delivered by his opponent.

"What the heck! That never happened before!" the Primeape's trainer yelled in disbelief.

"It happened now," the Slaking's trainer replied calmly. "My turn. Slaking! Seismic Toss!"

Slaking quickly stood up from his resting position and quickly grabbed his opponent's face with one paw and tossed him up into the air. "Primeape!" his trainer yelled. "Regain your balance! Land on your feet!"

Primeape responded as he somersaulted in mid-air and landed on his feet but lost his balance upon landing. The glasses wearing trainer saw his chance. "Now's your chance, Slaking! Body Slam attack!"

Slaking bored looking eyes became evil-like as he ran towards the angry pokemon and then leapt a great height into the air. As the Primeape got up, he looked to where his opponent was but he was no longer.

"Primeape!" his trainer yelled. "It's coming from above!"

The Primeape looked up and saw the falling giant coming down on him. His face was no longer showing any anger but shock and fear before getting crushed thunderously by the nearly three hundred pound Slaking.

Dusts began scattering around the field as the impact occured. After the dust cleared, Slaking slowly got off the unconscious Priemape's flattened body, no longer able to move. The audience was silent with awe.

"Ouch," one of them said finally.

"Looks like Primeape's unable to battle," the Slaking's trainer said as he zapped him back into his pokeball.

"Er... yeah," the Primeape's trainer replied nervously as he zapped back his. "Good match... er... bye."

He was about to leave but the better trainer called for him to stop. "Hey, don't leave," he said loudly. The opposition stopped, wanting to know what he wanted. The trainer with the spectacles walked over to him and offered to shake his hand. "Good match?" he asked.

The other trainer looked down on his hand and smiled as he shook his hand, responding that it was a good match. There were no bad or hard feelings between these trainers as the losing trainer walked away while the winning trainer looked on with a smile on his face. The winning trainer's name was Max Maple.

"Hey there, Max," Alice's voice called out to him, catching the winner's attention.

He turned towards the voice that he found familiar. "Hey, Alice," he said, recognising the girl walking towards him. "Long time, no see."

They both clasped hands in a welcoming fashion. "Hey, guys," Alice called to her friends while everyone else walked away, looking to watch over matches. "Come over here."

"Hey there, Max," Cassandra and Wally said in unison, their Gardevoirs also said 'hello' to him but in their own language. Alice then introduced Max to her other friends, Keith, Christie and Shakespeare.

"I've heard about you," Christie said. "You came close to winning the Hoenn and Johto League championship."

"Yeah," Max said as he placed his hand on the back of head, feeling slightly ashamed.

"There's nothing to feel bad about," Alice said. "I came close to winning a couple of championships myself. By the way, how's your sister doing?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Max replied as he pointed to the person behind her. Everyone turned to the direction that Max was pointing at and saw two figures coming towards them.

One was a girl, fifteen years old, had brown that was long on side of her head; she was wearing a red sleeveless jacket and miniskirt over her tight shorts, a green bandanna over head, black socks, red trainers and black and white training gloves. The other was quite taller, he was tanned skinned, had brown spiky hair and small eyes; he was wearing a green vest over his black and orange t-shirt, thick brown trousers and blue and white trainers. They were old friends of Alice's, May Maple and Brock.

"Hey, everyone," May said walking towards them. "How are thing?"

"Everything's fine," Alice said happily. "Boy, have we got a lot of catching up to do."

Before anyone could say another word, Jerry walked into the scene with his hand on his stomach. "Guys," he said catching everyone's attention. "You never guessed how many pancakes I ate in that cafeteria. I..."

He then looked at Alice and the others and realised that he interrupted their conversation. "Sorry about that, Alice. I..." he said before taking another look at Brock, Max and May. "Hey, you guys look familiar somehow," he said with his eyes narrowed.

"Brock, Max, May," Alice said, feeling slightly nervous. "This is Jerry."

"Hi," Jerry said, still deep thought as he shook each of their hands. After he shook May's hand, which was the third hand he shook, his eyes widened with shock as he finally remembered who they were. "I remember now! May's popular for her participation in pokemonn contests, Max's famous for competing in the last two pokemon leagues and Brock appeared on a cooking show to show how to bake a strawberry surprise cake for a Chikorita's birthday... and I just shook each and every one of your hands! This is so cool!" he continued excitedly, while his friends, old and new, looked on sheepishly. "I have a friend who is a celebrity and knows other celebrities!"

"Hold it down, Jerry. Hold it down," Keith said, placing his hand on his shoulder, trying to calm his friend.

"Wait a minute here," Jerry said, suddenly becoming slightly puzzled. "If you're here, Max, and if May's here, and Paris is somewhere in France… does that mean…?"

Meanwhile, Black Jack stood at the end on the ship, looking at the waves of the ocean while holding a bottle of beer in hand. As he drank another gulp he felt a familiar presence and some footsteps coming towards him yet he did not turn around.

"Pika!" squeaked a small voice, catching Black Jack's attention. He looked down and saw a small yellow mouse with a red circle marking on each cheek.

"Critter," Black Jack replied back.

He turned to his other direction and saw a young man, who was a foot shorter, standing next to him. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans, red and white trainers, a black t-shirt underneath his white jacket with black T on the back and fingerless black glove on each hand. He had small zigzag markings underneath each eye and scruffy hair that reached down to his shoulder blades.

Five years ago, Black Jack met this young man for the very first time at a Pokemon League in Hoenn. When they first battled, they fought hard and valiantly against each other and they had immediate respect for each other despite Black Jack's violent nature.

They were then put into a situation where they had to face a great enemy who captured Black Jack's family and some really rare pokemon, like Suicune and Zapdos. After fighting a long and hard battle, they managed to gain a victory against one of the most unforgiving opponents they ever faced.

Six months later, they teamed up to take down a criminal organisation in Oore, who mistreated pokemon and used them as biological weapons. Their toughest battle was against six of the strongest, and psychotic, pokemon who would use any means of violence to beat them. Despite that that too was a hard battle for them, and their associates, defeating those two pokemon trainers proved to be futile since Black Jack had a violent nature and this young man had a courageous heart.

This young man was the trainer that Black Jack respected the most.

Ash Ketchum, now twenty years of age, is here. "So," he said. "How's life going?"  
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More coming! Reviews please!


	16. Episode 5, Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was half-an-hour after Black Jack and Ash met up after five years of going their separate ways. During that time they had been talking about old times while watching the pokemon they released to get some fresh air.

Along with Black Jack's pokemon and Pikachu, Ash released his ice-ball like creature that had horns on each side of his head called a Glalie, a large gecko pokemon called Sceptile, an armoured elephant creature known as Donphan, a large red, white and black bird pokemon Swellow, and a small blue crocodile Totodile.

While others were playing tag, Sceptile and Chan were looking at the waves of the sea, Salamence and Metagross were taking a nap under the bright sun, and Totodile and Feraligatr were taking a nice swim close to the ship.

"Remember in the Orre region when Brock asked officer Jenny if she wanted to come along and get some doughnuts?" Black Jack asked showing a small smile.

Ash let out a huge laugh, remembering that particular moment. "Yeah," Ash said. "Misty could've gave him a knuckle sandwich there."

After Ash stopped laughing to let out a small sigh, attempting to breath in a normal way. "So what was Alice's toughest gym battle?" Ash asked as the conversation continued.

"I don't often do this… but I got to say that Waterflower was her toughest battle," Black Jack said.

"You mean Misty?" Ash asked with a slight surprise in his voice. When he was at a young age, he and Misty had a great bond of friendship during their pokemon journey… maybe even more than that. When she had to depart for her hometown Cerulean City he felt as though as his heart became broken because of everything they had been through.

It was a year later that she returned back to his life to see him compete in the Hoenn League against Black Jack. After a series of events happened afterwards, Ash and Misty spoke and Ash confessed his love to her. They had been together as a couple since despite that they were far away from each other.

"Yep," Black Jack continued. "She and I also had one heck of a battle. I can remember it like it was yesterday…"

-Flashback-

It was two years ago when Black Jack and Alice were travelling in the Kanto region in an attempt to compete in the Pokemon League. In order to compete in the event, Alice would have to defeat eight gym leaders of Kanto, one of them was Misty Waterflower, one of Black Jack's old associates, the love of Ash's life and leader of the Cerulean City Gym.

They were driving towards a dome shaped building with a gigantic seal Dewgong statue at the front. This was the Cerulean City gym, where Alice would challenge her for a Cascade badge to show that she did beat her.

As they entered the gym, they looked around to see if anyone's there to greet them. Unfortunately, there wasn't. They heard some loud cheering coming from the corridors and walked towards them. Some time after following the joyous applauds they walked into an entrance door and came across a large hall containing a large number of people sitting on the spectators' benches on each side of the hall and a large swimming being used by three women in bathing suits and various water pokemon such white seal pokemon Dewgong as they danced like a synchronising swimming team. They appeared to be finishing off their performance as they rose above the surface of the pool while balancing on top of each Dewgongs' nose.

"I think we got the wrong place, uncle," Alice said as she looked on with a puzzled look on her face.

"No, I know this place," Black Jack said looking around. "Waterflower must be around here somewhere."

"Oh… my… Bl-Black Jack!" a man behind them stuttered nervously yet excitedly. He was wearing some everyday clothing.

Black Jack's eyes widened as he had a feeling that a fan like that man would be asking him for his autograph. He always hated being famous. He quickly turned around and vertically pressed his index finger on his lips signalling the young man to be quiet. "Shush, kid," he whispered. "Have you seen the gym leader here?"

"I can't believe it!" yelled another fan much to Black Jack's dismay. This time it was a woman wearing a yellow t-shirt, blue skirt, and brown sandals. She also had brown shoulder length hair and was walking into the entranceway.

Soon, more and more people were looking into Black Jack's direction, no longer giving any attention to the swimming team's performance. "Great," Black Jack said in a down tone as the crowd started chanting his name. "What am I to do now?"

"Er… sign a bunch of autographs?" Alice replied sheepishly as he looked towards the fans.

"What's going on here?" a young girl asked, catching their attention. She was wearing a yellow, sleeveless t-shirt with a hood at the back, a pair of blue shorts, white socks and red shoes. She had ginger hair with a short ponytail at the side of her head. She was the leader of the Cerulean City, Misty Waterflower. Standing next to her was a little blue mouse that had a zigzag tail with a blue ball at the end; the creature's name was Marill. Another creature was standing behind her was a Psyduck, a small yellow duck who had three short hairs and had his wings holding his head as though he was having a headache.

"Thank, whoever, that you're here," he said. "I was about to tell those people to shut it but they won't listen."

"Hey! What's, like, the deal here?" yelled another girl. She had long blond hair and was wearing a red swimsuit. She was one of members of the swimming team and Misty's older sister, Daisy who was drying herself up with a towel after performing the show.

"Don't blame me," Black Jack said. "These folks must think that this is pantomime or something."

Black Jack looked at his niece and then back at Misty. "Hey, Waterflower, you remember Alice, my niece?" he asked attempting to stop the situation being awkward.

"Hey, Alice," Misty said, pleased to see one of her old friends. They were introduced five years ago after Black Jack saved Alice in a rescue. "It's been a while."

"A long while if you ask me," Alice replied, also pleased to see her. "I mean, five years."

"We want Black Jack! We want Misty!" the crowd chanted much to their surprise.

"What do they want?" Daisy asked in curiosity.

"Knowing those kinds of chants," Black Jack said knowingly as he liked to watch sport shows. "They want to see me and Waterflower battle."

"What?" Misty said in surprise while the crowd still chanted for them to battle.

"What?" Black Jack asked mockingly. "Ya scared?"

"Humph. Why would I be scared?" Misty asked back, showing her confident face. "I'm just surprise that the audience would rather see us battle than to see all that dancing."

"Hey! I heard that!" Daisy complained.

"Well, I did say it out loud," Misty said.

"Uncle, I thought she and I were gonna battle," Alice said.

"Not now, kid, uncle's busy," Black Jack replied. Alice responded by showing a dull look on her face. "I'm kidding. Seriously, if you watch the match you could learn something from this."

"Okay. Good point."

"Waterflower, you on?" Black Jack asked turning towards his upcoming opponent.

"As the leader of the Cerulean City gym, it is my one of my duties to accept every challenge," Misty said, showing her arrogance as gym trainer.

"Looks like you gym leaders and I have something in common," Black Jack said showing his small evil smile.

Soon, the stage was set as a number of large, pink and yellow plastic boards floating on top of the surface of the pool. Black Jack and Misty stood on each side of the pool; she showed a determined look on her face while he showed no expression.

Before the match, they both agreed to use only one pokemon each and would release them at the same time. Standing between them was Alice, acting like a referee for the match while Daisy, Marill, Psyduck and the others were watching as spectators.

"This will be a one-on-one pokemon battle! The first pokemon to knock the opponent out will be declared the winner," Alice announced loudly, raising both her hands up into the air. "Both trainers release your pokemon… NOW!" she yelled as she quickly waved them downwards.

"Go!" Misty yelled as she threw out her pokeball, releasing a blue, gigantic sea snake, Gyarados.

At the same time, Black Jack tossed out his chosen poekball. "Time to whip some," he said, releasing Chan the Blaziken, much to most of the audience's shock, as he landed safely on top of the floating boards.

"Is… Black Jack out of his mind?" one of the spectators whispered to the other. "I mean a fire type pokemon battling a water type like Gyarados?"

"Don't ever count Black Jack out," the other spectator said. "I heard that his Blaziken suffered much more than just being soaked."

That audience member was right, despite Blaziken's type disadvantage and that they were battling on Misty's battlefield she didn't show confidence on her face, instead she looked absolutely focused. Things were very close to even as Gyrardos let out a loud roar in an attempt to intimidate the opposition but neither Black Jack nor Chan were intimidated.

Alice raised her hand up vertically. "And now… BEGIN!" she yelled as she moved it downwards as though she was slicing through the air.

"Gyarados! Hydro Pump!" Misty instructed quickly.

Gyarados heavily breathed in and quickly shot out a huge fountain of water out of his mouth. "Pretty basic if you ask me," Black Jack said with criticism. "Chan! You know what to do!"

"(Uh-huh)," Chan replied with confidence in his tone as he leapt from his floating board making Gyarados hit that instead, knocking it away.

"Land on the board over there!" Black Jack instructed loudly as he pointed to another board on his right. While he was still airborne, Chan looked at the object that his trainer pointed to and attempted to land safely on it.

"Gyarados! Use your Hydro Pump on that floating board!" Misty yelled. The huge snake quickly shot out another huge fountain of water and hit the board, knocking it away.

Despite the board being knocked away, Chan remained in his focused state as his feet safely landed on the surface of the water and then quickly leapt from it, much to the shock of the audience. He then performed a somersault and landed safely on another board; he then rubbed his nose while sniffing before getting into his battling stance again.

"How did he do that?" Misty asked in an impressed tone.

"Lots of practice," Black Jack replied simply. "Now, Chan, hit them with your Triple Kick!"

Chan nodded before he leapt a great height towards Gyarados's head. Misty saw her this as an advantage as she knew that fighters like Chan should not attack straight on. "Gyarados! Hydro Pump again!" Misty yelled. Gyarados shot out another huge fountain of water towards him, attempting to hit him in a close range.

The attack missed as the red fighter dodged out of the way by millimetres. He then dived down, feet first, towards the blue snake and slammed his heavy yet quick kick attacks three consecutive times before landing on top of another board.

Gyarados shook away the dizziness after taking three hefty consecutive blows to the head and looked maliciously at his opponent, who stood in fighting stance waiting for the Gyarados to attack or for Black Jack to call out another order. "You're Gyarados is tough, I'll give you that," Black Jack said across the battlefield. "Normally, those kicks would knock any pokemon out."

"You have no idea," she said with a smirk on her face taking his compliment. "Gyarados! Bubblebeam!" The blue snake obeyed as he shot out a vast number of bubbles towards the opposition.

"Chan, dodge that!" Black Jack ordered. The Blaziken nodded as he leapt in the air.

"Gyarados! Tail Slam attack!" Misty ordered. The Bubblebeam turned out to be a decoy as Gyarados quickly slammed his tail on Chan's entire body with a great force, a force so great that it sent him flying until his back hit the wall, much to Black Jack's shock.

After taking a great deal of damage, Chan got up to his feet and stumbled towards the pool. While Black Jack ordered his Blaziken to shake away the dizziness, Misty saw her opportunity. "Gyarados! Hydro Pump now!" she yelled.

Gyarados wasted no time as he quickly breathed in and shot another powerful spray of water, hitting the red fighter in the abdomen, soaking him wet until his back hit the wall again, much to the shock of the audience knowing of how badly damaged a fire type pokemon can get when they face a water type. Again, Chan stumbled towards the pool but he wasn't able to stand for long as he fell on his back.

After a moment or so, not seeing Chan able to stand up from his attack, Alice raised her hand. "Blaziken is unable to…"

"Hey! Look!" yelled one of the spectators as he saw Chan hoisted his feet and lower back upwards while placing the palm of his paws on the floor near his head. He then leapt from his hands and higher back landing safely on his feet, showing that he regained conscious and ready to battle again. Everyone, apart from Black Jack, looked on with surprise looks on their faces as Chan leapt a great height and performed a somersault before landing safely on top on one of the floating boards.

"I see that you like to trick everyone at times, don't you, Black Jack?" Misty asked.

"Same to you, Waterflower," Black Jack said showing a small smile. "Anyway, you still got a long way to go of beating Chan here."

Gyarados stared down on his opponent growling nastily while Chan looked back with focus in his eyes.

"Gyarados! Bubblebeam attack!" Misty yelled pointing at the opposition.

The blue snake shot out numerous bubbles out of his mouth in a formation of a beam towards the Blaziken. "Chan! Counter with your Comet Punch!" Black Jack commanded.

Chan let out a loud yell as he rapidly punched each and every bubble that threatened to make contact with him until the last one was popped away. "Okay, Chan! Agility!" Black Jack yelled.

Chan jumped off the board and began running on the water towards his opponent, much to everyone's shock, zipping from one location to the other. "Gyarados!" Misty yelled, she was the only person who still had focus in her eyes despite the stunt that Chan was performing. "Flamethrower attack!"

Gyarados shot out numerous streams of flames but Chan dodged each one thanks to his agility. Gyarados then attempted to use his Tail Slam attack upon Misty's command but missed as Chan leapt upwards to avoid the contact and came face-to-face with him.

"Finish him off with your Blaze Kick, Chan!" Black Jack yelled.

"Gyarados! Screech!" Misty yelled.

One of Chan's feet engulfed in flames as he was about to slam it on the blue snake's face but was countered when Gyarados let a loud screech, sending him flying into a distance until he fell into the pool while everyone covered their ears to protect themselves from the noise, apart from Black Jack since he and his pokemon were used to it after their harsh training.

The Blaziken's head risen above the surface of the pool, he spitted out some out of his mouth. Despite being forced away by Gyarados's Screech attack, he was unfazed by it.

"Gyarados! Bite attack!" Misty yelled. Her pokemon leapt upwards out of the pool and then dived down aiming his opened fanged jaw towards the now disadvantaged Blaziken.

"Chan, dive down!" Black Jack yelled.

"(Got it)!" Chan cried back as he dived into the water, dodging the blue snake's attack. The audience looked on in shock when they saw the fiery fighter dived into the pool, thinking that he would get badly hurt.

Unlike most non-water type pokemon, the Blaziken was able to swim like one, despite that he was a fire type. He looked over at his opponent's direction as Gyarados turned to look at him.

Black Jack looked down at the pool. He knew that Chan couldn't use any fire attacks because they were now underwater but that didn't mean that they wouldn't be able to attack.

"Chan! Use your High Jump Kick!" Black Jack yelled. Chan swam as fast as he could towards his opponent, attempting to slam his kick attack on his face.

"Gyarados! Double Team!" Misty instructed. The blue snake glowed vigorously as numerous copies of himself appeared surrounding Chan who stopped his attack and looked hesitantly at them.

Black Jack let out a small snarl. "Chan! Don't hesitate! Use one of your senses to catch the real one!" he yelled to him.

Chan nodded, signalling that he received the order and closed his eyes, as did Black Jack. "Now's your chance, Gyarados!" Misty yelled. "Attack with everything you've got! Hyper Beam!"

Chan still had his eyes closed as he deeply concentrated while his opponent powered up his energy from within. He couldn't smell his opponent's scent because he had to hold his breath underwater, nor could he feel any movement as the real Gyarados held completely still as did his illusions, nor could he feel the temperature of the opposition because the warmth of the pool was the same as their bodies. There was only one thing that Chan could sense… the energy from Gyarados.

He and Black Jack quickly opened their eyes, now knowing who the real one was. "It's coming from your left," Black Jack warned.

Chan nodded in agreement as he quickly swam towards the real Gyarados. "Finish him! Dynamic Punch attack!" Black Jack yelled.

"Gyarados! Withdraw your Hyper Beam and go for your Whirlpool and Dragon rage attack!" Misty ordered quickly.

"What?" Black Jack and Alice yelled in unison in surprise.

They had the right to be surprised as the snake suddenly held back his attack as he and his illusions began to swim around the Blaziken so fast that they created a whirlpool. Chan spun around uncontrollably as he felt the air in his lings about to burst. "(What's the matter)?" Gyarados roared in triumph. "(Am I too fast for you)?"

Along with the audience, Black Jack looked down with shocked eyes, knowing of the disadvantage that Chan was in right now. He lost his concentration when he saw the gigantic whirlpool; despite this minor setback there was no time for hesitation.

"I got you now, Black Jack!" Misty yelled. "Gyarados! Hyper Beam!"

"I don't think so," Black Jack whispered quickly getting his focus back. His eyes narrowed as he yelled out his possible final attack. "Chan!" he yelled. "Ignore the pain inside you, find the real Gyarados and use Focus Punch!"

As Gyarados and his illusions formed a ball of energy each inside their mouths, Chan shut his eyes tightly taking in the pain and suffocation inside his body, letting a small growling noise while both his fists glowed vigorously. Then, out of instinct, he dashed towards one of the blue, giant snakes letting out a yell and aimed both his powered up fists onto his face, avoiding the contact of the huge energy beams that were shot out by his opponent and his copies, not knowing whether or not it was the real one.

Then suddenly, a great, big, gigantic splash occurred from the pool while a thunderous impact was heard from underneath the surface, much to everyone's shock. "He got him!" Black Jack yelled as about a quarter of splashed out water fell on top of everyone, making them completely wet while the rest fell back into the pool.

After everyone shielded eyes from the water, apart from Psyduck who was confused of the whole situation, they all looked back at the battlefield and saw Chan and Gyarados floating motionlessly on the pool's surface. Alice was about announce that both pokemon were knocked out but Chan, with the last ounce of his strength, slowly swam to one of the floating and held onto it for support as he climbed and stood on top of it, much to everyone's shock as they stared in awe.

Alice shook her head, snapping back to reality. "Gyarados is unable to battle!" she announced. "Black Jack and Chan win the match!"

That snapped the audience back into reality as they stood and gave both trainers and their pokemon a standing ovation for a brilliant battle. Out of exhaustion, Chan fell back into the pool again. Black Jack dived into the pool and swam towards him. He held him around his middle, swimming back to his side of the battlefield and then climbed up the ledge.

Chan sat and coughed out water out of his throat and stomach while Black Jack patted his back to induce the coughing. "Easy there, Chan," Black Jack said. "I hope you didn't put your fire out inside you."

"(Thank you, Black Jack)," Chan said, breathing heavily. "(I'll be okay)."

"Chan!" Alice cried worriedly as she ran towards them. "Are you okay? Is there anything I can do?"

Chan looked up to her in an assuring way as he held a thumb up, signalling that he was. "He's alright, folk," Black Jack said, also assuring her. "A day in the Pokemon Centre and he'll be fine."

They then looked at the badly injured Gyarados and Misty who was deeply concerned about him as were Daisy, Psyduck and Marill as they tried to comfort him. "We better go check on them," Black Jack said. "The poor guy seemed to be in bad shape."

They both helped Chan up to his feet and supported him as they walked towards the losers of this match. "Waterflower," Black Jack said. "This is a stupid question but is Gyarados okay?"

Gyarados gave a small growl, convincing them that he was fine. Misty let out a small giggle. "You did a good job, Gyarados," she said. "You deserve a good long rest."

"Blazi Blaziken," Blaziken said weakly to the giant snake who responded back with a small growl before they were zapped back into their pokeballs.

"Good match, huh, Waterflower?" Black Jack as he raised his hand, wanting to shake her hand out of respect.

Misty was surprised by this; a man like Black Jack doesn't do this often, even after battling tough trainers like her. Gladly, she placed her hand onto his and they both shook hands. "Good match," she replied with a smile on her face as the crowd still cheered for them.

"Uncle," Alice said jokingly, acting like a little kid. "Can I have my battle now, please?"

The three adults let out a small snigger each, as did Alice. "True, true," Black Jack said. "We originally planned visiting here so that Alice can battle you for the cascade badge. So, when will it be possible?"

Misty let out a nervous giggle. "Well, it depends," she said looking at the half-emptied pool, wet walls and floors. "It would take us a couple of days to clean this mess up."

-End Flashback-

"So did you and Alice help out with the cleaning?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, it didn't take long cleaning," Black Jack replied with disgust in his tone remembering the moment the huge number of obsessed, soaked up fans wanting to get his autograph. "It was a lot easier after getting those wet wannabes to leave me alone."

"I know how it feels," Ash said, letting out a small sigh.  
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	17. Episode 5, Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

While their pokemon took a rest after their activity Ash and Black Jack were finishing off their chat about Black Jack's battle with Misty.

"I noticed a lot of guts and toughness in her, Ketchum," Black Jack said. "I guess that she must've got them from you when you guys were travelling together."

"I think you're right there, Black Jack," Ash said. "How was Alice's battle?"

"After seeing our match, she knew that she's got a tough act to follow but she's not the type of person who would easily back down… obviously."

-Flashback-

It was some time after drying up the Cerulean City Gym and restoring Chan and Gyarados's health at the pokemon centre. Alice and Misty were getting ready for their pokemon battle. Both trainers stood at each end of the swimming pool where Black Jack and Misty battled while Black Jack stood between them acting as the referee for this match while holding his bottle of beer. A number of floating boards were placed on the surface. All six of Black Jack's pokemon were watching the match as spectators, along with Daisy, Marril and Psyduck.

Like Misty's last match, she and Alice agreed to use one pokemon each and that they would toss release them at the same time. "Alright, girls, y'know the rules," Black Jack said firmly before downing another swig of his drink. "Except this one – break any of them and your pokemon will be next. Now, choose your pokemon and release them."

Despite Black Jack's family love for his niece and respect for his associate, he had no tolerance for those who cheat.

Both trainers looked absolutely focused as they picked one of their pokeballs of their belts without looking. They then tossed them out while calling them out. Alice released her Sneasel, Glacia, a black weasel with claws disguised as white paws and a small yellow symbol on her forehead while Misty released her Corsola, a pink and white rock pokemon that had stubby horns in various places of her body. Upon being released, Little Sis landed on one of the floating boards while Corsola splashed into the pool.

"A Sneasel," Misty said noticeably. "I faced a pokemon like that before."

"Not this one," Alice replied. "And you'll find out why and be surprised. Right, Glacia?"

"Sneasel!" Glacia cried as she got into her battling stance while standing on one of the floating boards.

"Well, you ought to be surprised yourself. Corsola's really special," Misty said.

"Corsola! Corsola!" Corsola cried happily as she jumped up and down numerous times on the surface.

"Hey! Enough girl talk!" Black Jack said in a serious tone as he held his hand up. "BEGIN!" he yelled as he waved his hand down, signalling for the battle to start.

"Corsola! Spike Cannon!" Misty yelled immediately.

Corsola yelled her name in obedience as she glowed vigorously while shooting numerous energy spikes out of her horns towards her opponent.

"Glacia! Dodge them!" Alice instructed.

Glacia dodged each spike that Corsola shot out by leaping from one board to another. "Glacia! Icicle Spears!"

"Icicle Spears?" Misty said in surprise.

"She's got the right to be surprised," Black Jack thought to himself. "Normally, only one pokemon can use that move, Cloyster. But Sneasel has her style of attacking with her bunch of ice picks."

Glacia quickly leapt up high into the air and formed some icicle spikes from her paws before throwing them out directly towards Corsola who quickly jumped of the way upon Misty's command splashing into another part of the pool.

"Okay now, Corsola! Bubblebeam!" Misty yelled.

Corsola sprayed a number of bubbles out of her mouth in a formation of a beam, hitting the opposition when she was attempting to land on another board, knocking her into the pool.

Like Chan, Glacia was able to quickly swim to the surface of the pool and climbed up onto the floating boards. Her eyes narrowed as she turned towards Alice and she gave a small nod in response. The sneaky Sneasel turned back towards her opponent and beckoned her to attack.

"Corsola! Tackle attack!" Misty instructed.

The pink rock pokemon leapt towards Glacia, attempting to slam her body onto hers but missed as she leapt up high into the air. "Glacia! Double Team!" Alice yelled.

Her pokemon glowed energetically as three of her copies leapt out of her body. She and her illusions landed on separate boards, surrounding her opponent while attempting to confuse her. "Go ahead, Misty," Alice said with a small smirk on her face. "Pick a Sneasel."

Misty blinked several times wondering why Alice is giving her a chance. "Why the stalling, Misty?" Alice asked smugly. "I'm giving you a chance. Only 25 that you'll get the real one; it's not like you're facing several of them."

Misty's eyes narrowed, suspicious of what Sneasel and Alice were planning. She was also suspicious if she got this tactic from Black Jack. "Corsola!" she yelled. "Tackle the one on your right!"

Corsola leapt from the board she was standing on, attempting to slam her body onto, what she had hoped, the real Sneasel.

It was the wrong one as the real Sneasel leapt from her board and slammed her High Jump Kick attack on Corsola's back, sending her flying while causing great damage.

"Okay, Glacia!" Alice yelled, now seeing her chance when the Sneasel landed on another one of the boards while her illusion disappeared. "While she's in midair, slam her into that wall and use your icicle spears!"

The Sneasel leapt and grabbed Corsola in midair, continuing to dive down until she slammed her into the wall, almost crushing her like a truck. Glacia skipped back a metre while Corsola slowly got up to her feet after taking a great amount of damage. Glacia glowed a light blue energy while she maliciously looked at her opponent as she formed more icicle daggers from her paws.

"This is going to get rough for Misty," Black Jack thought to himself as he observed the match.

After Corsola fully stood up on all fours of her feet, Glacia threw several of her daggers at her like a madman throwing ninja stars, spiking her and causing her to scream in pain while Misty looked on in horror.

As Black Jack and Alice looked on, the attack reminded them of Glacia's dark side of her personality when it came to battles, equivalent to Black Jack's strategy.

The pokemon spectators watched on with shocked and horrid looks in their eyes while Black Jack's pokemon had their eyes narrowed.

"(She's acting up again)," Ferligatr growled.

"(What are you talking about)?" Gyarados growled.

"(She's always like that when it comes to battles. Even with Alice's training, she still fights like that. Knowing from experience, there are some things you can't change)."

After taking a great deal of damage, Corsola now had several sharp ends of each dagger stuck inside different parts of her body as she stood weakly on her own four feet. "She's still has a chance," Misty thought as the energy around Glacia started fading away.

"Glacia! Finish her off with your Aerial Ace!" Alice yelled, having a strong feeling that she would win the match after this attack as Sneasel leapt into the air, attempting to use her claws to slash her opponent's face.

"Corsola! Water Gun!" Misty yelled.

It was a desperate attempt as Corsola shot out a small water fountain out of her mouth, splashing it into Glacia's eyes. "That's the move she needed to hit," Black Jack said.

As Glacia stumbled away from her weakened opponent while rubbing her eyes, Misty took her chance. "Corsola! Shake off those daggers and then use recover!" Misty ordered.

Corsola quickly shook off the icy spikes off her body, revealing small dents on her body while glowing vigorously. After the glowing vanished, the bruises and the dents were no longer apparent.

Apart from the recovery power that Corsola had, Alice noticed that Corsola had great endurance meaning she and Glacia would have to give more damage to the opposition. Glacia knew that as well after she wiped the water out of eyes and saw her opponent completely healed. She smiled, knowing that she would have to inflict more pain onto her... and enjoy doing that.

Upon Alice's command, Glacia leapt back onto one of the floating boards. They waited for them to attack as the sneaky Sneasel beckoned them to. "Corsola!" Misty yelled. "Spike Cannon!"

Corsola glowed vigorously as she shot out a number of spikes out of her horns. "Glacia! Dodge it!" Alice instructed.

Glacia dodged the attack as she leapt from one floating board to another. "Okay, Glacia!" Alice yelled as she saw Corsola landed on one of the floating boards. "Slash attack!"

With one paw behind her back, Glacia did as she was instructed as she leapt up high into the air and then dived down towards her opponent with the speed of a shot out bullet, aiming her claws towards her but missed as Corsola dodged and leapt into another board, making her slash the board in half and splashing into the water.

Despite that and without Alice's instruction, Glacia took her paw from behind her back that now held a newly formed ice dagger and threw it at Corsola who was still in the air. "Corsola! Look out!" Msity warned.

It was too late for Corsola as the ice dagger struck her by one of her feet, making her lose balance and fall face first on one of the boards. Alice had a shock look in her eyes, not knowing that her Sneasel was going to do that. Her battling pokemon turned towards her and tapped her claws on the side of her own head, signalling that she pulled off a smart move.

"We'll talk about that later, Glacia," Alice said, getting back to being focused. "Finish her off with your icicle spear!"

Glacia once again formed a strange blue energy around her while ice dagger slowly formulated in her paws while Corsola was shaking away her dizziness while getting to her feet.

Wasting little time, Glacia quickly threw a great number of ice daggers at her opponent. "Corsola! Use your Mirror Coat!" Misty yelled desperately attempting to snap her pokemon back.

She succeeded as Corsola glowed a multicoloured energy around her pink body, bouncing her ice daggers back towards Glacia. "Glacia! Dive into the pool!" Alice yelled.

Everyone present for this match had shock looks in their eyes and with a good reason. Glacia looked back towards her trainer with a worried look on her face because she was standing in front of her. With no time to strategise at this moment, the Sneasel attempted to deflect and every one of the spikes that was coming towards her, much to the shock of her trainer.

She managed to deflect each and every one of them but missed the last as it penetrated into Sneasel right arm, making her scream in pain. "Sneasel!" Alice yelled in horror. She knew that if Glacia dived into the pool, she would've gotten hurt instead, yet she didn't Glacia to get hurt that way.

Out of tiredness and pain, the Sneasel fell on one knee she held onto the dagger that was pierced into her arm. She looked at Corsola and saw how tired she was after using her power to deflect her strong ice attack.

Glacia looked back at Alice and showed off a small smirk. "Okay…" Alice said. "Glacia! Double Team!"

Sneasel glowed vigorously as three copies of her appeared on separate boards, confusing Misty and Corsola. "Last chance. Time to pick a sneasel again, Misty," Alice said.

"This is indeed our last chance," Misty said. "Both of our pokemon are tired out and if I pick the right one, I'll win this battle. I could get Corsola to use recover but Glacia would attack while she does. Right, Corsola?"

"La!" Corsola cried, agreeing with her trainer.

"Pretty smart. I wish you good luck," Alice said. "Like before, you only have 25 of hitting the real one."

Misty and Corsola looked at each Sneasel, real and fake, to see if there were any faults in any of them. Even after trying to sense which one was the real one, they couldn't find one. Therefore, they had to rely on luck.

"Corsola! Hydro Pump now!" Misty yelled at she pointed at one of the Sneasels. "Attack the one in front of you!"

Corsola breathed in a lot of air and shot out her final attack, hoping that it'll hit the real Glacia. It turned out to be a fake as the real Glacia leapt from the board that was floating behind Corsola.

"Glacia! High Jump Kick!" Alice yelled.

"Corsola! About face now!" Misty yelled.

Corsola, still shooting her powerful water attack, turned towards Glacia. Glacia countered by quickly throwing another ice dagger straight into her opponent's mouth, blocking the attack, much to Misty's shock.

Glacia took her chance to slam her kick onto Corsola face, sending her flying as the dagger fell out of her mouth making her uncontrollably spray the large fountain of water, flying around the room until her back hit the wall and then to the ground.

Black Jack ran towards Corsola and looked down on her for inspection. Corsola was no longer moving due to unconsciousness.

"Corsola is unable to… hold on a second, I'm thirsty," Black Jack said before drinking down a gulp of beer. "A ref would raise a flag cos this Corsola's KO'd," he continued. "And the winner is Alice and Glacia."

"Glacia! You did it!" Alice yelled as she dived into the pool, still with her clothes on, and swam towards the exhausted Glacia, who was floating on the surface of the pool. When Alice reached her, she gave her a big hug and Glacia returned it.

Misty had an amazed look on her face. "She did a great job," she said noticeably. "Black Jack taught her well."

-End flashback-

"…And healing the pokemon, getting Alice's badge and some congratulatory drinks, everything was said and done," Black Jack said, finishing his story.

"Wow," Ash said in an impressed tone. " Alice can really put up a fight."

"Oh, before I forget," Black Jack said. "I got a message for you from her… don't forget to change your underwear everyday."

"Is that all?" Ash said with a dull look on his face.

"She also says the gym is fine and that she loves and all but you already knew that," Black Jack said.

Suddenly, Nidoking grabbed Ash from behind and gave him a noogie on the head. "Nido Nidoking!" he growled happily.

"He says 'good times, good times, Ash'," Black Jack said translating what Nidoking said.

"I know what he said," Ash replied. "I'm not sure how but I understand their language. I guess I've been travelling around for a long time."

"You wanna battle, one-on-one, practice match?" Black Jack asked.

Ash showed a huge smile at his offer. "You got one," he said.

Meanwhile, inside the battling hall, Max was having a pokemon battle with Alice while their friends watched. Max was using a small pokemon that appeared to have a white dress with green legs and a green mane; that pokemon was a Kirlia. Alice was using her Espeon, Little Sis, a light purple furred, four legged creature with enigmatic purple eyes and a red gem on her forehead.

Kirlia shot out a large dark energy ball out of her paws while Little Sis ran towards it. "Duck, Little Sis!" Alice yelled.

In a split second, Little Sis quickly ducked underneath the Dark Energy Ball before slamming body onto Kirlia's abdomen knocking her a distance away. Kirlia managed to regain her balance, she still standing on her own two feet.

"Way to go, Little Sis!" Alice said, seeing the opportunity. "Now use your Psybeam!"

The Espeon quickly shot out a multicoloured beam out of her gem towards her opponent. "Kirlia! Use your Mirror Coat!" Max yelled.

Kirlia lifted her arms as she glowed a multicoloured energy, attempting to deflect Little Sis's attack. As the energy beam reached her, she moved her arms to stop the attack and held it there, she struggled to gain enough strength to toss it aside. She succeeded as she tossed it back towards her opponent, who barely dodged out of the way.

As they battled, Black jack and Ash stood at the entranceway of the battling hall and observed on their match. Black Jack smiled, happy of how times had changed ever since meeting his niece, who grew up doing what she loved doing. Ash looked at his direction and smiled, noticing how happy he was.

"Y'know what, Ketchum, how about we just watch instead?" Black Jack said, wanting to observe the other trainer battles.

"Why not?" Ash replied. "You never know what those guys are up to these days."

"You're starting to sound like me, Ketchum," Black Jack replied. "You're young but you're turning into an old man yourself."

"Look who's talking, grandpa," Ash countered as they both leaned on the walls, watching the future champions of tomorrow battle each other.  
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	18. Episode 5, Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next day, Black Jack was standing at the end of the boat as it was coming towards one of the Seveii Islands. With a bottle of beer in hand, he looked at the beautiful horizon with the island coming into view. "Land ahoy," he whispered softly to himself.

It was late in the morning; a number people and pokemon were still sleeping in their respective cabins. One of the passengers, Black Jack, on the other hand, never slept a wink as usual, highly cautious of the dangers that may come to him and his niece.

"Can't sleep a wink again, I see," a young girl's voice said.

Black Jack didn't bother to turn around; he knew that someone was walking up from behind before she even spoke.

"Cassandra," Black Jack said as she stood next to him.

"You're very protective of her, aren't you?" she asked noticing why he is.

"I'm her uncle," Black Jack replied. "Pure and simple."

"You haven't changed a little since I first met you. Just my opinion but you ought to sleep sometime."

Black Jack let out a small sigh and Cassandra noticed how uncomfortable he was feeling. "Not that it's any of my business but do you… suffer from insomnia?" she asked as she turned her head towards him.

"It's not that… it's just that every time I sleep, I don't get any pleasant or forgotten dreams… just nightmares," he said. He then turned his head towards her. "They say that you can control your dreams, I can't. I don't know if they're messages or something."

"Sonya and I talk about our dreams a lot and we come up with some theories that they might be telling us. Why don't you tell me what you used to dream about?" she asked.

Black Jack slowly shook his head in response.

Suddenly, a 'ding-dong' sound came from a speaker close to them. "Attention all passengers," a man's voice said. "We are getting close to One Island of the Seveii Islands and we'll be arriving in an hour's time. We'll be announcing our arrival when we do. Thank you."

A click was then heard signalling that the announcement was finished. "I hope the cubs have woken up," Black Jack said as he made his way to the cabins. "Catch you later."

He walked into the halls of the cabins, searching for the room that Alice and her friends were sleeping in. He saw one of the cabin doors opening and Keith exiting with his usual attire on. "Morning, Black Jack," he said, fully awakened. "It's a good thing that you're here,

"Let me guess, Jerry again?" Black Jack asked in a dull tone.

"Yep, this time he's oversleeping. We're doing everything we can to wake him up. We ought to get a klaxon for him," he continued as Black Jack followed him back into his room. Upon entry, they saw Alice shaking Jerry about trying to wake him because of the announcement made earlier. They knew that a number of people would be getting in their way of their morning rituals such as eating breakfast.

"Morning, Alice," Black Jack said catching his niece's attention.

"Morning, uncle," Alice said taking a step back thinking of another solution of how to wake up her slumbering friend. Black Jack looked down on him with sadistic smile on his face.

"Go ahead and have breakfast, kids. Let me handle this," Black Jack said as he continued looking down on the underdog. Confused of what their mentor wanted to do, Alice and Keith left the room.

As they left, Black Jack took his glove off one of his hands and placed it in his pocket. He then pulled Jerry's shirt up showing only his chest and belly before raising his hand up into the air. Outside the room, a huge and loud slap was heard followed by Jerry's screams of pain.

An hour later, the cruise ship arrived at the docks of One Island. Black Jack and his associates were making their way towards the exit with Jerry still holding onto his hurt chest after taking a stinging slap from his boss. As they got off the ship, they saw two people that Prof. Oak and Kesner are familiar with. One had a grey buttoned t-shirt, a pair of brown trousers, black shoes and curly brown hair. His name was Bill, a fellow pokemon researcher who once saw a mysterious pokemon near his lighthouse years ago. The other had a red sweater with a shirt underneath, blue trousers and brown shoes, bushy eyebrows and grey shoulder length hair. His name was Spencer Hale, another pokemon researcher who mysteriously disappeared in a labyrinth but soon came back due to mysterious happenings somewhere else.

"Ah! Spencer and Bill!" Prof Oak said in a welcoming tone. "How have you two been?"

"Brilliant, professor," Spencer said shaking his hand. "And have we got a lot to show you."

"And you're associates, I believe," Bill said, noticing Black Jack and the others standing behind Prof. Oak.

"Ah, yes," Oak said realising this. "Let me introduce you two to everyone."

After introducing them to everyone, even though Bill have met Brock and Ash in the past, he asked how they would get to their research site. "We have a few boats waiting for us down at Kindle Road. Our research site is at Mt. Ember," Bill replied.

"Yes, and I'm sure that you will like what we discovered," Spencer continued. "Please, if you follow us."

After taking a long trip down a river and path of Kindle Road, they made their way towards a huge rocky and grassy mountain where a number of hot springs were placed in various parts of it. There were several tents and equipment placed outside the mountain. There was also a cave where another bunch of equipment was placed. "Here we are," Spencer said upon arrival. "Welcome to Mt. Ember."

Everyone, apart from Black Jack, looked at the mountain in amazement. "Jeez," he thought to himself. "Haven't they seen a mountain before?"

"Hey, do you have beer around here?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, no," Bill said. "We only have enough food for tonight. Someone from a nearby village will be coming tomorrow with the goods, you may ask him then."

"Well, that's more than lucky."

"Which explains why you have a bottle of beer in Jerry's bag, right?" Cassandra said as she looked at a particular object sticking out of her friend's bag.

"We'll show you around this place tomorrow," Spencer said. "For now, we'll settle into our rooms. I'm sure you all can use a good rest after travelling all day."

"Do we get free food?" Jerry asked, feeling very tired.

"Jerry!" Alice complained, not pleased with that question.

"Of course, you are our guests," Bill said.

"Yes!" Jerry yelled happily as he lifted his fist up into the air. He lost his balance and almost fell to the ground but Black Jack caught him.

"Careful son, that's dangerous!" Black Jack warned. "You were to break and spill my beer!"

That night after finishing off their last meal of the day, Black Jack and his associates, human and pokemon, sat around a campfire, a distance away from the mountain. They had been chatting over their past adventures, discoveries and others for a while until Alice came up with an idea.

"Hey uncle, shall we tell some ghost stories?" Alice asked.

" Alice? Ghost stories?" Max asked curiously.

"Uncle Jack, I and our pokemon tell our ghost stories a lot every time we set up camp at night," Alice replied.

"Well, I can see that you've set a campfire… so it is fitting," Prof. Kesner said nervously. "I think I'll pass." He stood up and made his way back to his tent.

"I think I'll pass too. I think I'll go for a walk," Black Jack said as he got to his feet and walked away leaving them puzzled.

"Black Jack? Afraid of ghost stories?" Max asked curiously.

"Most unlikely, Max," Ash said. "Most unlikely."

Black Jack made his way towards the mountain and spotted a man in a security outfit guarding a cave where lamps were placed around it. "No lift. Well, it's a good thing if they don't to disturb any pokemon so they must've used some flying pokemon to bring them up here," Black Jack thought to himself as he started climbing up until he reached the cave and walked towards the guard while taking out a bottle of his favourite drink out of his jacket.

"Halt!" a security guard as he held up a torch towards Black Jack. "Who goes there!"

"Evening, soldier," Black Jack said as he held up his hand to keep the light from blinding him. "Put your torch down, it's only me."

"Oh, Mr. Black Jack," the guard said as he withdrew his torch. "What are you doing here?"

"Just taking a walk. Alice and the other cubs are back there telling some ghost stories."

"You don't like ghost stories?" the guard asked, sounding quite surprised.

"Of course I do," Black Jack replied after taking the bottle top off with his teeth and spitting it out. "I've heard a lot of them in my time but the one I have in mind might scare the hell out of you and leave you little bit sick. Take ten, soldier."

"But sir, I'm on duty. My shift isn't over yet."

"I won't say anything if you won't."

He offered his opened beer to the guard, which he declined to. "I don't drink," he said as he held up his hand.

Black Jack downed another gulp of his drink down his throat. "The reason why I say that my story will make you sick because it actually happened," he said, beginning his story. "How do I know? Because me and my boys were there. What were we doing there? Doing stuff that people would find sickening. Those moments brought out a side inside of us… a 'Black Jack' side... a side that scares even me.

"There were those good times, when we wanted… no, we craved of taking another man or pokemon and breaking his insides, listening to their agonising screams until they pass out… only to recover again so we can break them even more."

While Black Jack spoke those words there was a feel of ecstasy in his voice. The way he spoke made the guard shook with fear and a small sweat drop slowly ran down the side of his face.

"Moment no.1. It was me versus Ash Ketchum at the Hoenn League Championships five years ago. It was my Salamence and his Meganium. Salamence was shooting flamethrower attacks at her and she was dodging each one. After dodging a lot of them, she got tired and began to move slowly. But this side of ours, no, we didn't want to give her a five minute break, we wanted to break every bone and organ in her body. So Salamence dived down, picked her up and took her high in the sky… and then dropped her onto the hard grounds of the stadium like a crate falling from the top of a building. Now that… was a huge rush…"

-Flashback-

It was at the Hoenn League Stadium, five years ago, where Black Jack and Ash fought against each other in their younger days. Black Jack was wearing his usual attire that time while Ash was wearing a black t-shirt with a blue sleeveless sweater over it, blue thick trousers, black and blue trainers, trainer gloves and an official pokemon league hat.

Salamence flew high in the skies and shot out countless Flamethrowers, only to have Meganium dodge each and every one of them. "Meganium!" Ash cried. "Razor Leaf attack!"

Meganium shot out her Razor Leaf attack from underneath the petals of her neck but Salamence shot out his flamethrower again and burned them to a crisp. "No!" Ash cried.

As Salamence continued using his Flamethrower attack, Black Jack noticed that Meganium was getting tired out caused by limitless dodging. "Now, Salamence!" Black Jack yelled. "Seismic Toss attack now!"

"Meganium!' Ash cried as Salamence was diving down at Meganium. "Dodge out of the way!"

But Meganium was too tired to move as Salamence swooped down, grabbed and lifted her up high in the air of a hundred feet. Salamence was holding her around her middle and everyone knew what was coming next.

Upon seeing that, Ash became desperate to save Meganium from getting hurt. "Black Jack, don't do this!" he cried. "I don't want Meganium hurt this way!"

All of Ash's friends and fans stood up and yelled out things in an attempt to stop Black Jack and Salamence finishing their attack such as, "Black Jack! Don't do this!"

"Wrong answer, people!" Black Jack yelled. "Salamence, say 'happy landings' to Meganium!"

Salamence released Meganium and she fell a hundred feet from the air! Ash could only watch in awe as one of his beloved pokemon crashed on the battlefield like a ton of bricks, much to the audience's shock.

-End Flashback-

"You see, when you have a fight or battle with us," Black Jack continued. "Nothing, NOTHING, is too violent. Some time after busting Meganium's insides, it was time for Ketchum's Pikachu and my Tyranitar… and the 'Black Jack' side of my boys and me were still growing.

"That little critter was using his quickness and electric attacks to beat him down but that wasn't enough. His momentum went against him when Tyranitar snatched his whole body and slammed him on the ground; the slam was so hard that he created a massive earthquake and a great big crack in the ground. The moral of this story is to do one to others before they do it to you."

-Flashback-

Going back five years again at the Hoenn League Championships event, the young Ash and Black Jack were on their last pokemon.

"Now get ready for a pounding of a lifetime!" Black Jack said. "Tyranitar! Dynamic Punch again!"

Tyranitar's clenched paw glowed as he looked at him with the intensity to beat him unmercifully. He rushed towards him, aiming his punch at the yellow rodent.

"Pikachu, dodge it!" Ash yelled.

Pikachu leapt into the air and was about land on Tyranitar but the opposition saw it coming. "Tyranitar grab it!" Black Jack ordered.

Tyranitar quickly stopped his Dynamic Punch attack to successfully grab Pikachu in mid-air.

"Now… Body Slam and Fissure attack!" Black Jack yelled.

"Fissure?" Ash cried, he knew that Fissure could knock out any pokemon… any pokemon.

"(Big one)!" Tyranitar roared as he held Pikachu as high as he could and then slammed him hard on the floor like he was nothing. The impact was so hard that it made a huge crack on the floor.

After the slam, Tyranitar looked down on Pikachu and smiled, thinking that he's knocked out. But to everyone's shock, Pikachu slowly started to get his feet. Unlike Tyranitar, he was battered and bruised. "I'm impressed, Pikachu," Black Jack said. "You do have a lot of guts."

-End Flashback-

"That Pikachu had a lot of guts in him. Hell, all of Ketchum's pokemon did. After the beating we gave them, it was the worst beating any six pokemon have ever received."

Black Jack looked at the surroundings around him, which consisted of various equipments that were used for research and saw one particular that he was mostly familiar with. "Hang on a second," he said as he walked over to a wooden box, took out a steel sledgehammer and walked back to the guard, showing it to him. "It was a sledgehammer, more or less the same size as this. After Chan got this Machamp broken in the leg and flat on his back, I took this sledgehammer and slammed it right onto his knee."

-Flashback-

It was a time when Black Jack and his associates travelled to the Orre region to disband a criminal organisation, Team Dark. In their final battle with Team Dark, Black Jack found vengeance after what Team Dark's masked Machamp did to him by 'killing' him.

He got Chan to hold him by his injured legs. His other comrades begged him not to hurt him this way but it was no use since Black Jack was so angry, so vengeful, so merciless and so aggressive that he raised the sledgehammer and slammed it right on top of Machamp's knee, shattering the bones and muscles inside while the Machamp screamed in pain.

-End Flashback-

"Y'know, that Machamp's leg could've broke like hell depended on it but that wasn't enough for me. I wanted his whole body to break. So I snatched him by waist, and I took him, and I slammed him as hard I could!" he said loudly as he motioned his hand as though he was slamming someone.

-Flashback-

It was moments after Black Jack injured the Machamp by the knee. He kicked him in the gut and grabbed him by the waist after the four armed psychopath got himself up despite his injury. He lifted him as high as he could and then slammed him through the steel floor, creating a huge hole in it as the mad Machamp fell to the lower floor, much to the shock of his team mates.

-End Flashback-

"Do you know what the scariest thing about this side of us is?" he asked now feeling relaxed. "Is that we like it. You may not like it but this is the side that helped save those kids years ago, this is the side that made Ketchum famous, this is the side that helped us crack Team Dark's skull… so the only thing left to worry about is whose insides…" he continued as he looked up at the full moon that hanged in the dark starry sky. "Are we gonna bust next?"

He began to walk away from the intimidated guard, still looking at the full moon. "I'm Black Jack. Evening, soldier," he said.

The guard was so petrified that he lost the feeling in his legs and fell on his backside as numerous cold sweats trickled down his face. "I hope it's not mine," he whimpered fearfully.

Some time later, Black Jack made his way back to the campsite where his associates were still telling their ghost stories. Alice saw him coming and walked over to him after seeing a small smile on his face. "Everything good, uncle?" she asked.

He looked at his niece and his smile became slightly bigger. "Never felt better," he said.

Next episode: Once again, Black Jack once again finds himself battling Team Ocean. But this time, Team Ocean is not alone.

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More coming! Reviews please!


	19. Episode 6, Chapter 1

**Episode 6: The Battle Line is Drawn**

Chapter 1

At another region, far from the Seveii Islands, a middle-aged man with short, black hair sat in a café. He was sitting at a table with a small cup of cappuccino in front of him. He was wearing a black t-shirt over his slim body, along with a pair of black jeans and boots.

Another man was wearing a tight, white t-shirt, blue jeans and brown shoes with a pink apron over them; he was also wearing a hair net over his blond hair. Apart from those two individuals, a customer and a waiter, no one else was there as it was early in the morning.

The man with the silver hair looked at a television box that was placed in one of the corners of the café. It was displaying a news program where the news broadcaster was telling the latest stories.

"A breaking news story has occurred that a group of criminals were terrorising a local village on One Village, one of the islands of the Seveii Islands…" he said as scenes of brining houses and injured innocent showed up on screen. "This happened overnight. We have yet to find out who these criminals are, but we can tell that they were dressed in some type of uniform. Police, as we speak, are investigating the scene while helping the lost and injured. In other news…"

"This is terrible. If no one does something about this, we're history," the customer said with worry in his voice. "Our only hope is to find the Orre Pack." He continued as he moved eyes left and right.

"The Orre Pack?" the waiter said calmly. "I hear they're terrific. Will there be anything else, sir?"

"Not unless you can help me find the Orre Pack."

"You're in luck," the waiter said with a smile on his face as he took off his hair net, releasing his blond hair that reached down his shoulder blades. "Cos you just found them."

At another location, a two floor office house had a sign 'Cupid's Arrow' was marked on front of the building. At first entry, a customer would find a young girl, who had her ginger red hair down to her shoulder blades and was wearing a black sleeveless t-shirt, white miniskirt and high black boots, sitting by her desk with a computer on that furniture.

On the second floor of the building, one of the rooms had a medium built man with brown scruffy shoulder-length hair, dressed in his blue denim jacket over his white t-shirt, blue jeans and red and white trainers, resting lazily on a couch with a bunch of junk littered around the furniture that was on one side of the room. He had a cordless phone placed on a stool next to him. On the other side, a huge rhino-like pokemon with a robotic foreleg was sitting in front of a laptop computer typing in various keys while a yellow rabbit with red ears, Plusle, sat on top of his head.

Suddenly, the phone started to ring. "Mecha, get the phone," the man said sleepily.

Annoyed, the Rhydon let out a small growl while rolling his eyes as he got up from the computer and walked over to the phone while the Plusle leapt off his head. When he reached for the phone, he held it above the man's head and then dropped it. "Ow! That's not what I meant!" the man yelled angrily after he felt the impact.

"You better answer it before they hang up, Isaac," Mecha said in a deep voice as he walked back to his laptop.

"Ya punk!" Isaac yelled before he pressed one of the buttons while sitting up. He held it to his ear as he spoke into it. "Look! I already told ya! We are not the deli people!"

"Hey there, Isaac," a familiar voice said.

"Hey! Stevens!" Isaac said in surprise. "You found us a new mission?"

"Darn right," Stevens said. "Our latest client came to our cafe and gave us a job. A friend of his will pay us handsomely after the mission is complete. Get the pack together and meet me at the docks tonight. I'll explain the mission later. See ya."

"See ya," Isaac replied back as they both hanged up simultaneously, ending their call. He then heard and saw the Plusle giggling at him because of what Mecha did earlier. "What are you laughing at?" Isaac snapped angrily towards him.

Upon seeing his angry looking face, Plusle's lips began to wobble, tears started forming in his eyes and then he started bawling like a baby. "Oh, stop crying, will ya?" Isaac moaned.

Plusle immediately stopped crying, putting on his smiley face. "Plusle," he squeaked simply, which meant, "okay."

"Where are Wes and Rui?"

"Wes is at the Coliseum and Rui's downstairs," Mecha replied.

"This ought to be some good news for the lover girl and bad news for Wes… and I'm not talking about the mission."

In another location, a filthy dome-like coliseum, a huge crowd was standing on steel balconies attached to the walls on different levels. They were observing and yelling down at two different pokemon inside a steel cage with different objects that would be found in the street scattered around in it. One in particular appeared to be wearing a pair of pink baggy trousers and hat with a number of scars on his body while the other appeared to be a large purple cobra-like pokemon that had a scary looking pattern on his chest. These two different species of pokemon were called Medicham and Arbok.

Standing outside of the cage were their respective trainers and a referee. One in particular had a long blue trench coat over his black sleeveless t-shirt, trousers and boots. He had a slim body and had spiky silver hair with a white stripe painted across his face. The other trainer was a taller and more muscular man than him and was wearing an old and dirty tank top along with his pair of trousers and brown shoes.

Both pokemon appeared to be badly beaten throughout the whole match but with different reasons.

"Kobra!" the muscular man yelled in a scratchy voice. "Bite attack!"

The Arbok obeyed his master's command as he launched himself towards his opponent opening his mouth and showing his sharp fangs, in an attempt to bite him on any anatomy.

Without being ordered, the Medicham ran towards his opponent and slid under him, making him miss his attack while he grabbed a folded steel chair. "Kobra, watch out!" the muscular man yelled.

Kobra quickly turned around, only to be knocked down by the weapon that was tossed into his face, courtesy of his opponent. The crowd gasped in awe upon hearing the impact.

The snake stayed down on the floor, almost unconscious. The Medicham took his chance to finish him off as he ran up to the wall of the cage and then leapt off, performing a back flip somersault and slamming his body on top of Kobra's. Arbok let out his last scream of pain before passing out into unconsciousness. The Medicham also felt a great deal of pain his body after giving the Arbok his aerial attack as he held on to his stomach and letting out a small groan.

After checking both pokemon carefully, the referee declared the Medicham the winner of the match, much to the happiness of the crowd. The man in the trench coat walked up to the cage and waited for the ref to open it using a key.

As the cage door opened Wes entered through and walked over to the recovering Medicham. "Nice one, Tattoo," he said coolly with a small smile. "Earned us a couple of bucks."

Tattoo looked back at his 'trainer' with a vacant look on his face. He moved his head towards the door, signalling that they should take their leave. "Let's go then," the man said.

Suddenly, the muscular man angrily came charging at him with a knife in hand but got knocked down by a large block of wood. It was Tattoo who threw that at his face.

"Thanks, but I didn't need the help, pal," the silver haired man said smugly as he held the sharp end of the knife with his finger tips.

After tossing away the knife, they both walked out of the cage while the crowd continued cheering for them. Upon their exit of the stadium, they saw Isaac, Mecha, Plusle and Rui outside, much to their surprise. Unable to contain her excitement, Rui ran towards the silver haired man and gave him a huge hug. "Oh, Wes!" she cried happily. "You won't believe it when you hear this!"

"I'm not believing what I'm seeing right now," Wes said in shock but still kept his cool. "I mean Isaac's not resting on the couch like he does all day. What's the occasion?"

"Stevens said to meet him at the docks later. We've got a new mission," Isaac said.

That night at the docks, a man in a red and white jacket was waiting by the ship, almost ready to depart for the Seveii Islands. His associates arrived to his location on time, with their bags packed and now wearing a different sort of clothing. They were all dressed in black, suspicious that someone may be spying on them.

"Ready to go?" Stevens asked.

Everyone held their thumbs up in response, signalling that they were ready to leave.

"Y'know, I can't help but think that I'm missing a few people but I can't remember who," Stevens said as they walked towards the ship.

Five years ago, these people and pokemon, apart from Tattoo, were involved in a downfall of a criminal organisation known as Team Dark, with the help of their old associates, Black Jack and Ash. They decided to set up their mercenary agency called the Orre Pack, taking on jobs that required a lot of action and, of course, a lot of money. They could never be hired by phone or address; the only way they could be hired was by finding them. Tattoo joined them shortly after but that was another story.

Meanwhile, in the early of the same day at One Island, Black Jack and his pokemon were walking from the nearby forest with bruises on different parts of their bodies yet they didn't appear to be badly hurt. As they made their way back to camp, they spotted that Spencer was out of his tent and was looking around in all directions. "Something up, Hale?" Black Jack asked as they walked up towards him.

"Yes, it's been over an hour and the delivery man from the village nearby hasn't arrived yet," Spencer said.

"That means no beer for me. Where's this village?"

Spencer pointed to the road that Black Jack and his pokemon came from, telling which directions to take to get to the village while Black Jack paid close attention and nodding to each instruction.

"Morning, everyone," Alice said, catching their attention as she walked towards them. She was dressed in her usual attire.

"Morning," Her two elders replied back.

"What's going on?" Alice asked.

"I'm going to the village to the village to pick up the goods, they haven't arrived yet. You coming?" Black Jack asked.

"Sure, but we got to get back as fast as we can," Alice said as they started walking towards Black Jack's motorcycle.

"Heh, I sense what you're thinking," Black Jack replied, knowing that Alice wouldn't say anything to hurt anyone's feelings. "If Jerry's hyperactively happy when it comes to food, I'd hate to see what he'll be like when he doesn't get any… actually, no I wouldn't.

"Uncle," Alice said, not pleased with his maliciousness.

After Black Jack returned his pokemon back to their pokeballs they set off towards the village with Black Jack in the driver's seat and Alice in the sidecar. They drove down several paths to get to the village until they saw a long, blue snake-like creature lying in the middle of the road. Black Jack made an emergency stop on his motorbike.

They both got out of the bike and ran over to it, who appeared to be badly beaten. "A Dragonair," Black Jack said. "What's a dragon like her doing out here?"

"We'll ask her later," Alice replied. "I hope the village has a pokemon centre."

The dragon opened her eyes weakly and saw them coming her way. She let out a loud yell, stopping them from coming any closer. "She thinks that we're trying to hurt her," Black Jack said noticeably. "I'd probably feel the same way if I was beaten up like that."

"We can't just leave her here, uncle," Alice said. "But if we get any closer, she'll attack out of instinct."

"I got something," Black Jack said as he ran over to a tree, hiding behind it. He took a pokeball off his belt and opened it, releasing his Salamence who was the same dragon type as the injured Dragonair. The winged dragon looked around, surprised for one particular reason.

"(What? No gang bash up?)" Salamence growled in puzzlement. "(What's the occasion)?"

"We have a Dragonair out there," Black Jack said. "And it looks badly hurt; some thug must've busted her up real good. Because of that, we can't get near her. We need you to tell that we're not going to hurt her."

"(I don't want to risk myself),"Salamence growled back nervously. "(You niced what's being revolving with us lately, right? Y'know, us being tough guys and all)."

"And they say that only males are looking for mates," Black Jack said, showing a dull look on his face. "Look, just talk to her okay?"

Salamence reluctantly walked past his friend and around the trees. He saw the injured Dragonair that Black Jack mentioned and walked slowly towards her. She slowly looked up towards him with a puzzled look on her face.

"(Hi, it's okay, kid)," Salamence growled. "(These two guys are friends here, they're not here to hurt ya)."

"(Have I… seen you before…?)" Dragonair asked.

Salamence's became puzzled when she asked that question. They both stared at each other for a moment filled of awkward silence. Somehow, they felt that they had met somewhere before.

The snake-like dragon then noticed Alice coming towards her and quickly closed her eyes, in fear that she might hurt her. But, to her surprise, she felt a light stroke from her soft hand. She slowly opened her eyes and saw her stroking her skin.

"(See)?" Salamence growled. "(Nothing to be afraid of)."

"Salamence," Black Jack said as he walked up to them from behind. "How about it if you carry the Dragonair from here? If we use a pokeball, chances are, she would not like that."

"(Got it)," Salamence growled in agreement.

After picking up the Dragonair and holding her next to her chest, Salamence flew high into the air and waited for Black Jack to start up the motorcycle. After he started driving, the dragon followed him.

It didn't take them long until Salamence spotted the village… which was on fire. "(Black Jack)!" he roared. "(The village is on fire)!"

"What?" Black Jack yelled in shock.

"What is it, uncle?" Alice asked in puzzlement.

"Just hold on tight, little cub," Black Jack said he began to drive faster.

After taking the final path to get to the village, Alice, Black Jack and Salamence were shocked at the sight of the place when they saw several houses on fire and many people and pokemon injured or trapped. Salamence slowly and safely landed on the ground.

Thinking quickly, Alice and Black Jack tossed all of their pokeballs out releasing their pokemon. "Listen up, boys and girls," Black Jack said in serious tone. "We got a big situation here, there are people and pokemon trapped in several places and they could use a helping hand." He then turned towards his niece after everyone growled and cooed in agreement. "Alice, call Ketchum and the others from camp. The more the merrier."

"One step of ya this time, uncle," Alice said as she took a small orange gadget, called a pokenav, out of her pocket.

"Salamence, let's go find the pokemon centre," Black Jack said as he got on his motorcycle.

"(Comin')," Salamence growled as he flew up into the sky once again, carrying the blue snake-like dragon while following his trainer on his bike.

Alice quickly tapped in a number of buttons on her pokenav and hoped that someone would receive her call. "Alice?" a voice said curious tone.

"Max! You're not going to believe this but we got some trouble here," Alice said trying to stay calm.

"You're telling me," Max said. "Jerry's gone crazy because we have no food."

"That's not the only problem we have right now."  
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	20. Episode 6, Chapter 2

**Chapter 2  
**  
Behind one of the buildings in the village, a small wolf pokemon Poochyena was in a cardboard box and was trying to put out a fire that was lit onto it. Luckily for the little pup, someone came and helped put it out by patting on the fire. It was Keith as he picked up the Poochyena and carried him away.

It was some time after Ash and the others came to the village's aid, helping the innocent bystanders, whether they were lost, trapped or injured. The village was almost in ruins as several buildings were burnt down; luckily for the injured, the hospital and the pokemon centre were still standing.

Apart from Black Jack who was resting with his back on the wall of one of the burnt houses, looked on as his associates were nursing the injured and calming the terrified. "Hey Black Jack," Keith's voice said, catching his attention. "Everyone's safe now. I think this Poochyena's the last one."

Black Jack let out a small uncaring grunt still observing the chaos around the scenery. He thought up one particular suspect that would cause all this damage for their own personal gain. "Snappy!" a woman's voice cried, catching their attention.

A woman in her twenties, wearing some casual clothing ran up to them and the Poochyena immediately recognised her and leapt from Keith's arms onto hers. They both hugged lovingly as though they were mother and child.

She turned her attention towards them. "Thank you," she sobbed. "I've been so worried. I don't know how to repay you."

"Er… no need, ma'am," Keith said. "I've found it in a cardboard box. I guess it was playing there before the fire started."

"We were taking a stroll in the streets until those villains came and frightened us," the woman said. "Snappy got frightened and ran away."

"Villains, eh? What did they look like?" Black Jack asked, still picturing the same villains he was suspecting.

"They were wearing some sort of red and black uniform, each one had a hood over their heads."

"Keith," Black Jack said to his student. "Sound familiar to you?"

"Maybe," Keith replied turning to towards his mentor with his eyes narrowed and his finger placed his lips as though he was thinking. "Sounds like an old criminal organisation that were taken out five years ago, Team Magma…"

"You're saying that they're back together?"

"Most unlikely, there's this other team that Team Ocean had been fighting against for a long time but it was a long time after the last time they fought. This team is opposite of Team Ocean, an altered version of Team Magma… Team Molten."

"So Team Molten were the ones who set fire to this town," the woman said. "Do you think they'll be back?"

Black Jack showed an evil smirk on his face. "Put it this way," he said. "I break necks for a hobby."

The woman trembled with fear after hearing the evilness of his voice. "Don't worry about him," Keith said showing an arrogant smirk of his own. "He's always in for a fight."

"By the way," the woman said. "I never heard of those Team Organisations. How do you?"

"I just know those things," Keith said simply.

While they spoke, Black Jack walked away from them. After walking a small distance, he sensed a presence not far from his location, a familiar presence. He turned around and looked mountain close by. His eyes narrowed as he continued glaring at the same part of the mountain for a long minute until Tyranitar walked up to him, also looking at the same part of the mountain. He too also sensed a familiar presence nearby. "(Black Jack)," he growled to his friend.

"I know," Black Jack replied still in his quiet state. "Now's not the time or the place… unless he says it is." With that said, he and the green dinosaur walked to the Pokemon Centre.

At the Pokemon Centre, Salamence was standing outside the badly damaged building after helping the injured Dragonair get there. He observed the chaos around him while thinking about the blue dragon and how they had a feeling that they've met somewhere before.

"(Hey lover boy)," Feraligatr growled jokingly, catching his attention. "(Still thinking about that cute Dragonair)?"

Salamence turned towards his blue crocodile and poison pin friends. "(For your information, I'm not a lover boy)," he growled. "(I'm just trying to remember where I have met this gal)."

"(Was it a long time ago that you met her)?" Nidoking growled.

"(Maybe… right now, she's being checked on. I'd like to keep watch on her but I'm a little too big for those rooms)."

"(Keep watch, huh? Another exhibit of evidence that you like her)," Feraligatr growled trying to sound smart while Nidoking let out a small giggle.

Salamence became annoyed by his comment. "(Will you two shut up already)?" he growled. "(I'm off to help the injured)."

"(Everyone's safe but okay)," Feraligatr growled loudly as they saw the blue winged dragon walk away.

"(Salamence and Dragonair sittin' in a tree)," Nidoking sneered jokingly.

Salamence heard that, he cringed and shut his eyes tightly in an angry fashion thinking up numerous swear words.

Inside the Pokemon Centre, the Dragonair was in an operating room where she was contained inside a glass box. She was connected to a number of wires connected to a machine that was being controlled by a nurse. She was lucky to get help, there was so much damage outside and within the building that medical treatment was limited.

Despite that she was intimidated as she backed herself away from the nurse despite that she assured her that no one would hurt her. Alice was outside room in the corridor where she looked at the bewildered dragon through a window with concern in her eyes. "Time out, Alice," his friend's voice said catching her attention.

Alice turned towards him and saw that it was Ash calling to her. As usual, Pikachu was holding on to his head. He was holding two plastic bottles of mineral water, handing one over to her and she politely accepted his offer.

"So," Ash said as he turned towards the Dragonair. "How is she doing?"

"She's so nervous after taking this rough beating," Alice replied with concern in her voice. "I think she may trust me and Salamence but I don't think she's not going to listen to others."

"I've been in this situation before. There are pokemon out there that are being mistreated and villages being torn by people like those guys that did this. What ticks me off is that I can't be there for everyone." There was a hint of sadness in his voice. Pikachu cooed in response.

"I guess that's the reality of things," Alice said. "Uncle Jack taught me that."

He let out a small sigh and silence followed as they continued looking at the Dragonair with concern. "Hey, Alice," Ash said. "I asked a couple of people around here about who was burning the village. They said that they had red and black clothing with hoods over their heads. Does that mean anything?"

"Not really," Alice said while thinking. "Before you said something like that I thought it was Team Ocean."

"Team Ocean? Who are they?"

"In Uncle Jack's words, they are a rip-off version of Team Aqua, a group that you and the other guys help disband years ago. Remember?"

"Boy, do I?"

-Flashback-

It was a few years ago, somewhere in the Kanto region, when Ash, Pikachu, May, Brock and Max were running though a forest with Ash carrying a green crystal orb. Alongside them was Ash's old friend, Brendan Birch. They met for the very first time in the Hoenn League championship and had a valiant and epic tournament match with Ash winning it.

Ash was wearing a pair of blue baggy trousers, black fingerless training gloves, a cap and a black t-shirt underneath his sleeveless sweater. Brendan had silver hair with a black bandanna around his forehead, a red and black jacket and trousers and trainers. May was wearing her red jacket, white miniskirt over her tight black shorts and trainers. Max was wearing a pair of brown baggy shorts, green t-shirt and a pair of glasses. Brock was wearing a large brown jacket and grey baggy trousers.

This was the time when they found out from a television shop that a criminal organisation known as Team Aqua, whose goal was to increase the depths of the waters, found a blue crystal orb and Team Magma, whose ambition was to increase the mass of the lands, found a red orb and they were now searching for the legendary pokemon to control. Both orbs were from unknown places as far as Ash and his friends were concerned. The green orb was given to Ash from Brendan after he received it from a total stranger because of his knowledge to these legendaries and that he was told about the actions of both organisations.

Each crystal orb had the power to allow the user control three legendary pokemon. The blue orb had the power to control Kyogre, the legendary pokemon of the sea. The red orb contained the power to control Groudon, the legendary pokemon of the earth. And Rayquaza, the legendary pokemon the sky, can be controlled by the green orb.

Ash already knew about the red and blue orbs since he had dealt with Aqua and Magma involving those legendary pokemon before when both teams were attempting to control Groudon and Kyogre but to no avail because they were using the wrong orbs. This time they found the right way of controlling them.

They continued to run until they came across a beach where they saw an old tower nearby. "That's the Sky Pillar! Where Rayquaza sleeps on the roof!" Brendan said.

"C'mon!" Ash yelled with determination in his voice as he and his friends ran towards their location. Upon entry, they noticed that there were a number of floors before they would reach Rayquaza.

They climb to the top was tiring and dangerous as some parts of the floors had large and small cracks that threatened they would break into a hole when stepped on. After their arduous climb, they spotted an enormous green snake-like dragon who sleeping peacefully. This creature was the legendary dragon…

"Rayquaza…" Ash whispered with enthusiasm in his voice as he began walking slowly to it.

"Ash, wait a minute," Brendan warned. Before he could say another word the green started glowing vigorously, much to the astonishment of Ash and his friends.

Rayquaza's eyes slowly opened. At first sight, he saw Ash holding the glowing orb and saw intimidation in his eyes. "Do not fear me," sent a calm voice.

"What the…?" Ash asked in astonishment as he looked at the dragon. "You're talking… to me?"

"Yes," it replied as it raised its head. "You came because of the upcoming dangers from Kyogre and Groudon."

Ash nodded in response. "But it's not their fault," he said. "Some bad guys I know are trying to take control of them."

"We must act quickly," Rayquaza sent as it lowered its head to the rooftop so that Ash can get on its head.

"Ash," May said running up to him. He turned around to see her. "If you're gonna do this, I'm coming with you."

His other friends followed her, saying that they would be coming as well. He smiled at the fact that he's got some great friends. "I never said you can't come," he said with Pikachu letting out a loud squeak of happiness.

Suddenly, the glowing orb began to sink into Ash's hand, much to everyone's surprise. "It's happening again," Max said. "Just like last time with Pikachu and Archie."

After the orb completely sunk inside his hand, his arms and face were showing some strange green pattern. Ash looked at them with awe.

"Ash," May said with concern in her voice. "How are you feeling?"

"Nothing," Ash said. "It was kinda scary at first because of what happened to them when they were using those red and blue orbs."

"There is not much time," Rayquaza sent calmly. "I sense strong dangers that are about to occur in this world."

Everyone's attention was caught as they quickly hopped onto the back of the legendary dragon and it flew off into the sky at a high speed. So fast that Ash and his friends had to hold on tight to it.

It didn't take them long to get to their destination where a giant sea creature known as Kyogre was battling an enormous red and black dinosaur Groudon in the sea close to an island. The weather kept on changing after each second between the extremely bright sunshine with a high temperature and heavy raining.

Controlling Kyogre was a man named Archie, leader of Team Aqua. He was dressed in dark blue clothing and had bandanna around his forehead. He also had a glowing blue pattern around his body and his eyes glowing blue with a maniacal look on his face. He was standing on top of a gigantic submarine, where his crew members stood behind him to observe the battle.

Controlling Groudon was another man, whose name was Maxie, leader of Team Magma, dressed in a long red and black jacket, black shoes and trousers with red neck length hair. He too had a pattern around his body but coloured red while his eyes energetically glowed the same colour as his pattern; he also had the same look his opponent had. He was standing on a red submarine where his comrades were also watching the scene.

"There they are!" Max yelled as he pointed at the two teams and the battling pokemon.

Ash sensed that, unlike himself, Archie and Maxie were being controlled by the orbs. Despite that, he had no time to think. "Let's take 'em!" Ash yelled.

Rayquaza let out a huge roar catching everyone's attention. They looked into its attention and soon noticed that both the bright sunshine and the heavy raining began to move away. The weather soon became a sunny day white clouds hovering in the blue sky.

"Rayquaza…" Both Maxie and Archie growled in unison. They both looked at each other and nodded, as though they were agreeing on a particular subject.

"Kyogre! Attack that Rayquaza!" Archie yelled as he pointed at the legendary dragon.

"Groudon! You too!" Maxie yelled.

Kyogre shot a blue beam out of its mouth towards Rayquaza while Groudon shot out a powerful lick of flame at the same target.

Rayquaza quickly shot out a powerful energy beam from its mouth colliding its attack with theirs causing a huge explosion on contact. Everyone covered their eyes to protect themselves from the blinding light and dust of the explosion.

Ash felt a slight drain of energy coming away from him after Rayquaza's attack but he and his friends were too distracted from the explosion to notice that.

After the explosion cleared, everyone looked back towards the battle scene. Archie and Maxie wasted no time commanding their legendary creatures to attack Rayquaza. They blasted out their attacks numerous times while the legendary dragon dodged each one while fighting back.

Ash's friends noticed that something was wrong with him when he wasn't holding onto Rayquaza tightly enough as he was about slip off. "Ash! What's wrong?" May cried out of concern.

"Don't worry about me!" Ash yelled after shaking away his dizziness.

"Guys! I forgot to you something!" Brendan yelled. "Every time Rayquaza attacks, the energy will be drained from the user of the green orb!"

"You didn't tell us earlier?" May yelled angrily.

"Sorry!" Brendan yelled nervously.

"C'mon! We got think of something to help Ash out!" Brock yelled.

"I got an idea!" Brendan yelled as he took a pokeball of his belt. "I'll use Swarmpert to distract one of the teams! I'll get him to punch a hole in one of those submarines!"

Max's eyes widened with shock. "Brendan!" he shouted "That's stupid, crazy and… it might just work!"

"Swarmpert!" Brendan yelled as he tossed out his pokeball. "Use your Mega Punch attack! Slam a hole inside one of the submarines!"

A blue mudfish like pokemon materialised after being released from his pokeball. He looked down on the blue submarine and quickly dived down spinning like a drill, aiming his punch to it.

"These guys are crazy!" yelled one of the Team Aqua grunts in fright as he looked up towards the Swarmpert. Everyone also looked up and became frightened of what would occur to the ship.

"Abandon ship! I mean submarine!" another one yelled as they jumped off the submarine apart from Archie who was still standing on it, still focused on Rayquaza.

Brock, noticing how effective the plan was, quickly took a pokeball off his pokeball belt and tossed it out. "Forretress! Rapid Spin and Explosion!" he yelled tossing out his pokeball.

A dual steel and bug type pokemon materialised after being released from the ball and begun to spin around while aiming towards the red submarine where Team Magma were standing. They heard a whistling noise and looked up to see Forretress diving down towards them while glowing vigorously.

"Two of them! Abandon ship!" one of the Magma grunts yelled as he jumped off the vehicle. He saw Swarmpert attacking the blue submarine earlier.

Everyone also looked up and reacted quickly as they also jumped off the submarine except Maxie who was still under the orb's control.

Soon, Swarmpert and Forretress crashed into their targeted ships, smashing a hole inside them. Both ships exploded, forcefully sending both leaders of their respective teams flying into the sea distracting both Kyogre and Groudon, the pokemon they were both controlling.

"We got them now, guys!" Max yelled.

"Go for it, Rayquaza!" Ash yelled. "Give them your best shot!"

Taking advantage of the distraction, the sky dragon quickly powered up his Hyper Beam attack and fired the gigantic energy beam out of its mouth. Kyogre and Groudon turned around and the beam collided unto them, causing an explosion upon impact. Everyone closed their eyes to protect them from the light and dust of the explosion.

After the explosion cleared, everyone opened their eyes and saw Groudon and Kyogre floating motionlessly on the sea surface. "Yes! Ash! We did it!" Ash's friends yelled.

But Ash, out of exhaustion, lost his grip of Rayquaza's back and fell a great height, much to everyone's shock. His friends looked down and saw Ash splashed into the sea. Sensing the danger, Rayquaza quickly dived down to save him.

Soon, many people and pokemon were on the island after the battle between Kyogre, Groudon and Rayquaza. On one side of the island, Ash was lying unconsciously on the ground while his friends tried to wake him up. Ash was not longer had green patterns on his body but Brendan was holding the orb.

Ash slowly opened his eyes and saw his friends around. "Hi guys," he said weakly. "Did we win?"

"Heck yeah!" Brendan said. "Kyogre and Groudon got beat. Rayquaza's checking up on them. My Swarmpert and Brock's Forretress are safe, back inside their pokeballs."

"What about Team Aqua and Magma? Did they make out okay?" Ash asked. Despite that he hated the evilness of those team, Ash was a compassionate side of him.

"Yeah," Max said in a down tone. "And they're coming this way."

Everyone looked at Max's direction and saw both teams coming their way. "Hey! Where's our boss!" One of the Team Aqua members yelled demandingly.

Many of the members from both team started complaining about the whereabouts of their leaders. One of them soon noticed that their leaders were now on the island shore. "Guys! Our leaders are here!" he shouted.

The two leaders were also unconsciously lying on the shore and they had the orbs lying next to them. Their teams ran over to them and tried to wake them up. Maxie and Archie slowly opened their eyes and were shocked that Kyogre and Groudon were no longer there.

"It's those kids' fault!" Archie snarled turning towards the children and picking up his blue orb. "Why can't you see that we need more water! We are doing this for the good of the world."

"Hey! Don't you know why we had stop you!" May yelled. Ash wanted to stand up but he was weak of his drained energy during the battle. "If you did something like that, you'd kill us all! There would be no land to live on!"

"Correct," Maxie said confidently. "That is why we, Team Magma, are intending to increase to mass of the lands."

"What? And have no water around?" Brendan yelled. "How are we suppose to drink? Where will the water pokemon live if you take their water away? Tell us!"

Both Maxie and Archie showed angry eyes, struggling to answer their questions. "The sea kills all!" Maxie yelled as he held his orb into the sky.

"You imbeciles!" Archie yelled angrily. "With the help of Kyogre! We'll increase the depths of the sea and kill those who intrude!

Suddenly, three different roars were heard simultaneously catching everyone's attention. It was Rayquaza, Kyogre and Groudon staring down at the two maniacal leaders. "Er... the pokemon are thinking otherwise, pals," Brendan said with a small smirk.

"Obey me and attack!" Archie yelled but Kyogre let out a loud roar in response.

"I don't think so," Brendan said. "You guys have used up all of the power of the orbs. Without them, they're useless. You should wait for them to recharge for, say... a long time."

"Useless!" Archie yelled out of anger and frustration while throwing away the blue orb towards the children, as did Maxie. Max and Brock quickly picked them up.

Both leaders and the rest of their teams became intimidated at that news and backed away from the pokemon. "We must escape!" Maxie yelled.

"I don't think so," Brock said. "Did you guys forget that you're submarines are smashed?"

They then heard a siren coming from afar, much to both teams' dismay while Rayquaza quickly flew towards the children, signalling them to get on his back. Members of Team Aqua and Magma begged to be rescued but the legendary pokemon refused to let them leave the island, letting out their loud roars before leaving the scene.

Sometime after getting back to the shore of the Kanto region where no one would find them. Kyogre and Groudon were first to leave the scene as they travelled back to their resting places while Rayquaza stayed afloat. The green orb Brendan was carrying began glowing again, much to everyone's surprise."The balance of nature has been restored," Rayquaza sent. "The world couldn't have been in better hands."

With that sent, the orb stopped glowing and Rayquaza flew away until he was out of sight. "Hey Brendan," Ash said. "How come I was able to control myself after the green orb got inside me?"

"I haven't studied on that part yet," Brendan said.

"Well, you did save the world more than once, Ash," Brock said knowingly. "Maybe you have a knack for doing that."

Ash and his friends looked down on the orbs, wondering they should do. They decided to throw them away but in different parts of the sea so that no one corrupted would stand a chance of finding them.

Soon afterwards, Brendan parted ways from his friends knowing that they would meet again.

-End flashback-

"I can't take all the credit for that. I'm not the guy who did all the work," Ash said. "I had Max and the other guys with me."

"Why is it that things like these happen to us?" Alice asked out of curiosity.

"I don't know," Ash replied with a shrug. "I guess things like these happen."

Suddenly, they heard someone barging into the corridor, falling to the floor in the process and turned their attention to see Jerry lying, face first, on the floor. He was holding a newspaper. "Something wrong Jerry?" Alice asked.

"Ash!" Jerry said sounding desperate as he quickly got up on his feet. "It's Misty! She's… she's gone missing!"

"What?" Ash yelled in shock, as did Pikachu but in his own language. Ash quickly snatched the newspaper from Jerry and read the front page, immediately reading the headline 'Water Pokemon Trainer Netted'. He continued reading the news that Misty was missing after a number of trainers found the Cerulean gym empty with a number of damages to the walls and floors and missing pokemon. The gym and her sisters were placed under high security by the police until further notice.

Ash's hands shook with anger after he finished reading the news. "When I find out who did this, I'm gonna rip them apart!" he snarled.

"Pikachu," Pikachu growled, also angry at the criminals.

"I do have one suspect in mind," said Black Jack as he entered the corridor catching their attention.

"Who is it?" Ash said demandingly.

"Team Ocean."

--------------------------------------------  
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	21. Episode 6, Chapter 3

**Chapter 3  
**  
Black Jack, Alice, Jerry, Ash and Pikachu were in the corridor when the big man told them about the possible suspect Team Ocean.

"And why them? Why not Team Missile?" Ash asked still angry at the kidnappers.

"Team Missile?" Jerry asked Alice with curiosity in his tone.

"You heard about Team Rocket right?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, they got disbanded or something right?" Jerry asked, knowing about Team Rocket being a criminal organisation.

"Well, Team Missile's like them but their technologies a lot better."

"Explain?"

"I was once captured by them and I noticed they had this special gadget to control legendary pokemon like Ho-oh and Lugia. But Uncle Jack and Ash dealt with those bad guys and we were set free after that."

Jerry's face showed an impressed expression while Black Jack was telling Ash his answers. "If memory serves me correctly," Black Jack said. "Team Ocean did mention that they plan to find a bunch of water pokemon masters to take over the world. And after what we have done to Team Missile, they would think twice before messing with us."

Pikachu leapt off Ash's head as Ash stormed towards him and grabbed him by his neck collar of his jacket, pulling him closer. "Why didn't you tell me?" Ash snarled.

"I was hoping they would see sense," Black Jack replied evilly with narrowed eyes. "Now let go of my jacket, Ketchum."

"Why?" Ash snarled, letting his anger take control. "What are you going to…"

Black Jack quickly responded by knocking his hands away and grabbing him by the neck. He then proceeded to harshly push his rival onto the wall still holding him by the neck, threatening to choke him.

Realising the danger, Alice and Pikachu came between them stopping the fight. "Uncle, stop!" she said loudly. "This is a Pokemon Centre! We don't want anyone else hurt right now! Aren't you two friends?"

Silence followed with Ash and Black Jack continuing to stare at each other with anger in their eyes. A moment later, Black Jack spoke. "We're not friends," he said answering Alice's question. "But seeing him as someone in my league, I respect him.

"But a little warning, Ketchum," he continued. "If you value your neck, don't ever do that or ask me that question."

He released his neck and slowly walked out of the corridor. Ash let out some deep breaths, trying to calm himself down while Pikachu leapt onto his shoulder and placed his paw on his friend's head comforting him. "I got to call home," Ash said as he walked out of the corridor.

Alice let out a small sigh, relieved that they didn't have to fight. "Man, that was something," Jerry said. "That was brave what you did there Alice."

"I'm used to it," Alice said putting on a small smile. "Uncle Jack gets into fights all the time."

"As if I didn't know that."

They then heard a small beep coming from the operating room signalling that the operation was over and the nurse came out of the room. Alice walked up to her. "How is she doing Nurse Joy?" Alice asked, hoping that the Dragonair would be fine.

"There's no need to worry now," Joy said in an assuring tone. "Even though she's been beaten badly, she'll be fully recovered by tomorrow morning and will be released by then."

Alice let out a small sigh of relief after hearing that news. "Thanks Nurse Joy," she said. "I don't know how to repay you."

"It was nothing compared to how you saved the trapped and injured while the village was on fire."

"That reminds me. How come those thugs set fire to it?" Jerry asked. His eyes then widened with shock and despair. "Wait… they… didn't take the food, did they?"

"Well…" Nurse Joy said worriedly but Alice stopped her by holding her hand out.

"I know that tone! They did! Didn't they?" Jerry yelled with tears forming in his eyes. He then started wailing as he rushed out of the corridor.

"He hasn't eaten since last night," Alice said as she placed her hand on her forehead in embarrassment. "Still, it's a good thing we're getting the guys healed. I'll stick around and help you out Nurse Joy. I can see that you got a lot of work to do."

"Thank you," Nurse Joy said with a nod. "Right now, we need all the help we can get."

Alice looked at the Dragonair and smiled, happy that the blue dragon would be completely healed the next day.

Night time. Black Jack and his pokemon were walking around in separate ways inside the village. Each one of them had a torch and a walkie-talkie each to see in the dark. They were on a night watch, protecting the villagers by looking out for intruders. "(Some guys are fine after getting some medical attention, but the Centre and hospital's still got a lot of work to do)," Tyranitar growled to himself, reminding himself about the day's events as he leaned on one of the burnt houses. "(A lot of food will be arriving tomorrow morning. That should put Jerry's head at ease)."

He began walking around to look for possible intruders, ready to fight them if necessary… or when. He sensed a familiar presence nearby and turned his attention towards it. It turned out to be Ash, who had a torch of his own and a look of sadness on his face as he looked down on the ground. Pikachu was riding on his shoulder. Neither of them could sleep because of what happened to Misty.

"(Hey Ash)," Tyranitar growled.

"Hey Tyranitar," Ash replied in a down tone, as did Pikachu but in his own language. "Can we hang around with you tonight?"

Tyranitar nodded, allowing them to patrol around the area with him. They were silent for a number of minutes as they walked until Ash broke it. "Sorry about what happened back there with Black Jack," he said. "I hope he didn't take it the wrong way."

"(If I was you I wouldn't threaten him like that)," Tyranitar growled. "(But on the other hand, Jack knows what you're going through with Misty being captured. Remember what we did to Mane when he captured Black Jack's family)?"

"Yeah," Ash replied tonelessly.

"(How's the family taking it)?"

"Misty's sisters were in tears when I called them. They said the police are currently looking for clues in the gym while protecting them under high security. They kept on asking me what we're going to do about this. You and the other guys can stay but I decided to cut my trip short and head back home, in case they need me."

"(Any clues from the police)?"

"No. Not at this point."

They both continued walking together looking for intruders. As they came next to next to a corner of one of the buildings, Tyranitar stretched his foreleg out towards that corner and grabbed a suspicious character. He dragged him and held him closely face-to-face, much to Ash's surprise.

Tyranitar glared evilly at the intimidated grunt while growling. "He says that you were so nervous that he heard your heart beat," Ash said, translating for Tyranitar. "What did you hear?"

"Nothing much," the grunt said nervously.

As Ash looked on at the situation, Pikachu sensed another intruder coming. He quickly turned around and saw another grunt coming towards him with knife. He instinctively leapt towards him but he was prepared as he aimed towards Pikachu. But he felt a kick in the gut from Ash, who also heard him coming, and dropped the knife to the floor. "Pikachu! Use your Iron Tail!" Ash ordered. Pikachu's jagged tail glowed energetically as he slammed it onto the grunt's head knocking him down, giving Ash the advantage to hold him down.

"(Been training yourself, I see)," Tyranitar growled after observing what Ash and Pikachu did.

As Ash held him down, he looked up at Tyranitar who was still holding the first grunt and smiled, taking the remark as a compliment. He then saw a third grunt standing on the rooftop of the burnt building behind the green dinosaur looking down at him. The grunt quickly leapt towards him. "Tyranitar! Look out!" Ash yelled warningly.

Tyranitar reacted quickly as he turned towards the grunt jumping down and caught him by the throat, choking him simultaneously. He evilly glared at him while letting out a monstrous growl at him.

"Nice to see you 'drop in'," Black Jack said commenting on the third grunt as he walked into the scene catching everyone's attention. The first grunt gave a nervous laugh in response. "Laugh it up punk. We're taking you to the police station and we'll interrogate you boys in the morning."

He looked down at Ash who was holding down one of the grunts. "Black Jack…" Ash said. "I'm…"

"No need," Black Jack said lowering his head. "I know."

The next morning, Black Jack and Ash visited the grunts after spending the night patrolling the village area. Ash originally planned to go back home in his home region of Kanto to visit Misty's sisters but he decided to stay a little longer because he may get some answers from the grunts. They were given the permission from the police to interrogate them. They sat down in the cafeteria of the station and had a cup of coffee and a number of pancakes each.

"We're gonna give you boys a new role," Black Jack said after eating some of his pancakes. "You're going to be our informants."

"And the part of that role is that you guys are going to tell us everything you know about Misty's whereabouts," Ash said suspiciously. "And with absolute truth."

"You want the truth?" one of the grunts asked confidently. "You're not gonna handle it but we don't know where she is."

Ash took a photo of Misty out of his pocket and showed it to them. "We all know what she looks like," the other grunt said. "We saw her in newspapers and TV sets."

"Y'know, Ketchum," Black Jack said after taking a sip of his coffee. "In times like this I like my coffee hot."

Ash showed a puzzled look on his face, as if he was asking, "Why?"

Black responded by splashing it right into the face of one of the grunts. "Agh! My eyes!" The grunt yelled in pain as he quickly got off his seat holding with his hands over his eyes. Black Jack quickly followed the grunt, grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him back into his seat. "I'm blind! I'm can't see!" the grunt complained still with his eyes feeling sore.

Black Jack responded by backslapping in the face. The grunt became shocked from that hit. His eyes were still hurting but he was no complaining. "Hey! Cafeteria guy!" Black Jack called across the hall where a man dressed in his cafeteria uniform was working at the counter. "Another cup!"

He sat back onto his seat. "You see, boys," Black Jack said taking off his sunglasses, showing evil looking eyes. "Unlike those authority idiots you meet in places like this, I have my own ways of interrogation. So unless you want to know more about my interrogation skills firsthand, I strongly advise you to answer some questions."

The grunts nervously looked at both the violent Black Jack and the angered Ash Ketchum. Surely for them, this was not a good time for stalling. "Okay…" one of the grunts said. "I'll confess…"

Meanwhile in another location of the village, Salamence was patrolling through the streets, looking around for suspicious characters. "(Hi Salamence)," cooed a pokemon's voice from behind.

Salamence turned around and saw the Dragonair, the same Dragonair he saved the other day. After spending the night at the Pokemon Centre, she was more than fine to leave the place.

"(Hi kid)," Salamence growled with a smile. "(Good thing you're alive and well, huh)?"

"(For your information, just because I'm not a Dragonite, it doesn't mean I'm a kid)," she replied.

"(Sorry, I guess your cute looks fooled me)."

Dragonair giggled at that remark while blushing for a slight second. "(I was wondering if I can help patrol the village for a while. After all, you and your friends did rescue me)."

"(I see no harm in that… might be a little dangerous though)."

"(I've had worst)," Dragonair cooed putting on a cheery face. "(Stupid)!" she continued feeling rather embarrassed. "(My name's Aurora. What's your name)?"  
"(I don't have a name. Just call me Salamence)."

Unknown to them, Nidoking and Feraligatr were spying on them behind a pair of trees. "(I'm telling ya, Feraligatr)," Nidoking growled quietly. "(This stinks)."

"(What stinks)?" Feraligatr asked.

"(Them)!"

Feraligatr looked at their direction and sniffed a big sniff as they walked off. "(I can't smell anything from them)."

"(That's not what I meant. Him, her… in love)" Nidoking growled, growling the last two words in a sarcastically loving, passionate voice.

"(I don't get it. First, we were picking on him for helping that Dragonair and now you're not liking it. What's the problem)?"

"(Think about it. If Salamence falls in love with that Dragonair and decides to stick with her, what would become of him and us)?"

Feraligatr thought deeply about the situation for a long minute. He soon realised what it would be like without him "(Oh)," he growled quietly in shock. It would mean that Salamence would no longer get any action plus Black Jack's team would be down from seven members to six.

"(What's going on you guys)?" a voice cooed calmly catching their attention.

They turned towards Sceptile and Glalie, both belonging to Ash. "(Salamence's… in love)," Feraligatr growled, still slightly startled of his realisation.

"(Feraligatr)!" Nidoking snarled. "(Don't go round telling other pokemon that)!"

"(And that's a bad thing because…)" Sceptile cooed in a puzzled tone.

"(If Salamence falls for that Dragonair, he'll stick with her and not with us)!" Nidoking growled.

Sceptile let out a small sigh. "(For pokemon that hanged around a lot more than Sceptile and me put together, you guys are a little dense)," Glalie cooed.

Nidoking's eyes widened, taking the remark as an insult. "(Excuse me)?" Nidoking growled daring Glalie to say it again.

"(Leave it, Nido. She's probably right)," Feraligatr growled.

"(I guess you guys don't like being lonely. I, on the other hand, am always lonely even when it's break time)," Sceptile cooed. "(Have you guys ever fallen in love)?"

"(No)," both of Black Jack's pokemon replied.

"(Then you ought to think about what Salamence is thinking, what he wants and all, not just yourselves. Take it from me; I fell for a couple of females. Ash and the other guys were understanding about them… only they fell for other males)."

Glalie turned around hiding her sn_i_ggeringing face. "(A couple…)" she thought cheekily. "(Up to Brock's number is more like it)!"

"(Nice story there Sceptile)," Nidoking growled while showing some deep thought. "(Now if only we were interested…)"

Sceptile's eyes narrowed, not liking Nidoking's remark. "(Know this. If you guys are really Salamence's friend, you'd do whatever it is to make him happy)," he cooed.

"(Hey, but what about us)?" Feraligatr growled.

"(Then you'd be happy that he's happy)," Sceptile cooed as he turned around beginning to walk away. He noticed that Glalie was still giggling. "(What are you laughing at)?" he cooed.

"(Liar, liar! Pants on fire!)" Glalie cooed loudly zooming away, leaving Nidoking and Feraligatr in puzzlement while Sceptile calmly followed.

"(What are we gonna do)?" Feraligatr growled.

"(We'll follow them)," Nidoking answered.

Feraligatr began walking in Sceptile's direction but Nidoking dragged him away by the paw. "(Not them! Salamence and that Dragonair)!" he growled.

Meanwhile, back at the police station, the Team Ocean grunts were answering several questions Black Jack and ash provided. So far, they admitted that they kidnapped Misty and other water pokemon trainers, much to Ash's dismay. "How did you guys find us?" Black Jack asked. "Were you guys following us when we were on a trip to One Island?"

"Yes, we've been following you a lot," one of the grunts answered nervously.

"Did you have anything to do with the burning village?" Ash asked, trying to keep calm.

"No, not at all."

"Do you have any suspicions of who might be behind it?"

"We suspect that Team Molten might be behind that," another grunt replied. "They often use fire pokemon to do their dirty work…"

After more questions were answered, Black Jack, Ash and the grunts were totally quiet. Black Jack snapped his fingers and a policeman walked through the open doors. "If you boys are lying to me, think only this," he threatened. "I'll be back to get you."

He looked up to the policeman and motioned his head to take them away. "Prison cell," he said.

The grunts stood up from their seats and slowly began to walk away with the policeman following them.

"Any ideas?" Ash asked after the grunts left.

"I think we'll do a little spying of our own," Black Jack replied.

"You're not going to crash in on their submarine are you?" Ash asked with concern. "That's where they're keeping Misty and I don't want her hurt."

Black Jack smiled a small smile. As much as he loved to physically dismantle his enemies, he couldn't allow the love of Ash's life to be hurt. After all, because of his rival's kind compassion, he'd do the same for him and his family… that's if any of Black Jack's enemies had the audacity to do so.

"Did someone say 'a little spying'?" asked a man's voice behind them. They turned around and smiled recognising the man who spoke.

Back at Nidoking's and Feraligatr's location, they had been following and spying Aurora and Salamence for a long while. As they came towards another corner they noticed the Dragonair coming close to Salamence's ear, close enough to whisper or something more, and had a suspicious feeling that they may be up to something. Then Salamence sensed their presence and turned towards them, making them panic and hide behind the corner where they wouldn't be seen.

"(Come on out you two)," Salamence growled knowing that they were hiding there. "(What are you guys up to)?"

Feraligatr and Nidoking came out of their hiding place. "(Um…we thought we smelled… cookies)," Feraligatr growled nervously before running away, dragging Nidoking along with him.

"(Who were those two)?" Aurora cooed.

"(They're… friends of mine)," Salamence growled feeling slightly embarrassed. "(Aurora)," he thought to himself. "(That name sounds familiar)."

"(So, are you free tonight)?" Aurora asked.

"(I don't know)," Salamence growled. "(I better tell Black Jack about… oh, here he comes now)." He noticed his trainer and friend coming towards them.

"Salamence," Black Jack said. "Glad I caught you. Tell the others that I will be taking a couple of guys to spy on Team Ocean and one of you has to stay in charge. We should be back here very late tonight."

"(Got it)," Salamence growled. "(Listen to this, Jack. I think we're going to protect more than the innocent around us)."

"What do you mean by that?" Black Jack asked.  
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	22. Episode 6, Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Mid afternoon.

It was some time after Ash and Black Jack left the village. They were now in a forest near a beach, not far from the village. Ash had Pikachu holding onto his shoulder and Totodile being held onto his chest. They were all hiding behind the bushes.

"You sure this is the place?" a woman asked, walking up to them from behind. She was wearing a blue denim jacket with a small, tight purple t-shirt underneath and a white miniskirt. Her name was Rui, one of members of the Orre Pack.

Alongside her was a man was fellow Orre Pack member Wes, who had silver, spiky hair and wearing a long blue jacket over his t-shirt, black jeans and boots and a white stripe painted on his face; and Detective Stevens, donning a red and white jacket over his white t-shirt, blue jeans and trainers.

Two days ago, they travelled from the Orre Region after hearing the news about the burning village and were hired to investigate the cause of fire. Along with Black Jack and Ash, they had suspicions between two criminal organisations Team Ocean and Team Molten. They figured that they may not find the guilty party here but least they may find some clue.

"If it isn't, then those punks will have me to answer to," Ash said answering Rui's question.

"We're gonna have to flip a coin for that," Black Jack commented. He looked down at Ash's Totodile. "Ready for a little spy game, pal?"

"(You bet'cha)!" Totodile growled enthusiastically.

Ash had a worried look on his face as he placed him on the ground. "Are you sure you're okay with this?" he asked. "I don't want to put you at risk."

Despite Black Jack's plan to use Ash's Totodile as a spy and rescuer, as much as Ash wanted to save Misty, he was reluctant to release him for this cause. He wanted to do this himself but Black Jack convinced him that he would easily get caught by Team Ocean because he had one of the most recognisable faces.

Totodile let out a small giggle. "(Aw, c'mon Ash)!" he croaked enthusiastically. "(We've been on rescue missions before. Remember that baby Lugia and mother Lugia Team Rocket captured? We knocked their brains out and saved the Lugias)!"

Ash let out a small sigh. "I guess Team Ocean capturing Misty got me all panicky," he said in a down tone. "I don't want you captured too."

"You can't get panicky right now, Ash," Stevens said. "Cos if you do you'll lose focus."

"You're right, Stevens," Ash said. "I wouldn't want Misty to see me like this."  
"If there's any problem, get out of there or find another route," Black Jack said towards Totodile.

"(This won't be a problem, Ash)," Totodile growled as he ran towards the sea. "(This one's for the team)!"

"(Good luck, Totodile)," Ash said quietly, hoping that his crocodile friend would get back to them.

He dived into the sea and started to search for the Team Ocean base underwater. It didn't take him long to find it; it was at the bottom of the sea. The colour of the gigantic base was ocean blue and dome-shaped. He swam around the base to find a way in but to no avail. Suddenly the base began to rise, much to Totodile's surprise.

He swam up to the bottom of the base to see if there was an entranceway. As a large circular hatch opened, he saw his chance to enter while a blue submarine came out of the entrance.

Meanwhile, on the beach, Black Jack and the others waited patiently for Totodile's return. They soon spotted Team Ocean's submarine and quickly hid behind the trees. They took a peek to see what was going on as the submarine came on to the shore. Its hatch opened and released a blue Ferrari.

"The Team Ocean leader must be inside that car," Ash whispered angrily. "Let's take 'em."

"Not yet, Ash. I'll have High Flyer and Twister to spy on them," Stevens said as he took out two of his pokeballs out. "Go!" he cried as he threw them up into the air.

The pokeballs opened, releasing two bird-like pokemon. One had most of its feathers black on its back and wings while it had white feathers on the front while the other had red wings, black feathered neck and a brown head with a pink beak.

"A Tailow and a Spearow," Black Jack said noticeably.

"Yep, these boys never let me down," Stevens replied to Black Jack, and then he turned his attention back to his birds. "Boys, we need you to follow that car. High Flyer will need to stay with them while Twister will have to tell us where they're staying."

The two bird-pokemon cooed obediently as they turned around, flying away in the other direction. All the others could to do until they return was wait.

The two birds followed the car while airborne. It wasn't long until they saw the car stopping next to an old cabin-like tavern. It had a red sign on the high part of the building marked 'The Rough Side'. The two birds landed on top of the roof while two suspicious characters out of the car from each side, unaware that they were being spied upon. They were both wearing long light brown trench coats with bowler hats. "C'mon, let's go inside," one of them said.

"(Twister)," High Flyer the Tailow cooed towards his spying partner. "(I'll stick here and listen to their plan. You fly back to the others and guide them here)."

"(Hush. Hang on a second)," Twister the Spearow squawked, pressing the side of his head on the roof, attempting to listen to the noise from within the tavern.

His partner let out a small sigh. "(Bah. Anything to get away from flying back)," he cooed as he started to fly back to the group.

Meanwhile, at the Team Ocean base, Totodile broke into it as he knocked down the ventilator hatch after crawling though small tunnels. He began walking through a number of corridors, which were all metallic, looking for the prisoners the captured Team Ocean grunts confessed. He peeked around one of the doorways and saw a number of monitors, with a large control box underneath, showing different pictures.

"(A security room)," he croaked to himself looking around for the grunts in the room. There were two of them sitting in their seats and he slowly walked up to them, trying not to make a noise. When he reached up to them, he looked up and saw that they were sleeping.

Taking the advantage, he looked at one of the screens and saw the face he recognised the most... Misty. She was locked up in a prison cell, wearing her yellow sleeveless t-shirt, blue denim shorts, white short sock and brown shoes. After checking what section she was in '63DG', he quickly made his way to her prison cell after sneakily taking a card from the security guard's pocket, which should help open doors. He knew what he had to do at this moment; find Misty and the other captured trainers and help them escape.

Meanwhile, back at the tavern, the two characters dressed in light brown trench coats were sitting at the same table with other two characters dressed in dark brown trench coats and bowler hats. Apart from them, a barman and a few drunken people, there weren't a lot of people. The place was dark and slightly messy.

Then, a man walked in wearing a long black trench coat and a bowler hat that shaded his face. He walked over to the counter and took out a small book. "Can I get you anything, sir?" the barman said in a Brooklyn-like accent. He was a bald, fat man with a small beard. He was wearing a tie bow, a white buttoned shirt and black trousers.

The man in black opened his book and read it. "I… would like… a shot of… martini," he said in a Spanish accent. "Thank you please."

"Not bad," the barman replied as he served him the drink. "That'll be two dollars."

The man in black handed over the money. "Thank you," he said as the barman took it as he went back cleaning the glasses.

"So," one of the men in dark brown trench coats said. "How are you guys doing?"

One of the men in the light brown trench coats let out a small sigh. "Three of our men didn't come back last night," he said quietly. "It's either they're trapped or they're being beaten up by Black Jack. I feel sorry for those guys, but I'm glad that that he's not on a hunt for me."

"But if you captured one of his relatives, maybe he'll surrender."

"No way! Remember when Team Missile captured his family? Black Jack battered their brains out and caused an explosion to one of their bases. Anyway, we've already captured Misty Waterflower."

"Yeah, we've read about it," the other man in a dark brown trench coat said. "That oughta crack that Ash Ketchum guy up, being her boyfriend and all."

The four mysterious characters chuckled after that remark while the man in black took a sip of his martini. "Almost forgot," one of the men in a light brown trench coat said. "When are the bosses coming?"

"About nine tonight, it's a good thing we're teaming up for once, huh?" the other said as he looked at his watch. "We better get going. Our break's over."

"Our break's over too," the other man said. "See you later."

After the four men left, the man in the black trench coat took one last gulp of his drink before placing a few coins down a jar with a sign marked 'tip jar' and leaving the tavern.

Once he got outside, he saw the same blue Ferrari and a red jeep leaving the scene. He walked deep into the forest and found Black Jack standing next to his bike; he took his bowler hat off his head revealing his true identity, Wes. He held his thumb up, showing that he got some good information from the unsuspecting agents. "So far, so good," Wes said.

Back at the Team Ocean base, Totodile, as discreet as he could, hurried towards Misty's prison cell while carrying a card he took from the sleeping guard. After walking along several corridors and meeting several dead ends, he spotted the following letters and numbers '63DG' marked on the door, meaning that Misty's prison cell was behind that door. He also spotted a card slot next to the door, and jumped towards while sliding down the card. A green light switched on and a beep was sounded signalling that the pass was granted.

The door opened revealing Misty in her prison cell. She was still unconscious as she laid there. Totodile walked to the bars and croaked quietly, loud enough to wake her up. She woke up, slowly opening up her eyes seeing Totodile as the first pokemon after being captured.

"Totodile?" she murmured sleepily.

The little blue crocodile skipped happily carelessly from left to right, happy to see his friend and importantly help her escape. He looked around the room for the security camera and spotted it in a top corner of the room. It was quite high but Totodile was able to reach it as he leapt a great height and grabbed the camera.

"Totodile," Misty whispered. "I see a wire there. See if you can disconnect it."

Totodile also spotted the wire and carefully tried to disconnect it. Suddenly, the camera broke from the ceiling and crashed to the floor, much to Totodile's and Misty's shock. "Hey! What's going on in there?" yelled a man's voice.

"That's torn it," Misty said. "Totodile, get yourself out of here."

"Toto!" the little blue crocodile croaked disapprovingly as he didn't want to leave his friend, his trainer's love, behind.

"Totodile, don't worry about me!" Misty cried back. "Team Ocean may have caught me but they won't hurt me because they need me! Now get going! Ash will understand!"

Totodile was still hesitant to leave but soon heard some loud footsteps and saw some of the Team Ocean agents charging towards them. He quickly turned towards Misty and saw an assuring and determined look in her eyes. He, too, became determined as he began running towards the grunts.

The grunts did their best to catch but because of his small size and speed, he managed to run underneath all of them. Despite getting pass all of them, the grunts still gave chase. He ran back into the corridors he previously walked passed. As he ran to another corner, getting the grunts to lose sight of him, he found the ventilator hatch he broke down, he quickly picked it up and placed it back while getting inside to make his escape. The grunts ran around the same corner but found the blue crocodile no longer there and decided to search the entire base.

Back at Ash's location, they blue Ferrari was making its way back. The submarine raised to the surface of the sea and its hatched opened, allowing the car to enter it. Once the vehicle entered, the hatch of the submarine closed and went back into the sea.

Soon, Black Jack's bike came into the scene, with Black Jack and Wes riding the vehicle. After Black jack stopped the vehicle, Wes got out of the sidecar and Rui ran and gave him a huge hug. "Oh, Wes," she cried. "I'm glad you're okay!"

"Yeah, but you don't have to choke me to prove it," Wes replied, feeling the air being squeezed out of him.

"So, what's the scoop?" Stevens asked, who had his bird pokemon on his shoulders.

"Well, we got a bit of bad news," Wes said after Rui released him. "Unfortunately there was no Team Ocean leader and apparently, they have joined forces."

"I wouldn't consider that bad news," Black Jack said with a smirk.

"Do you have any good news?" Ash asked.

Before anyone could answer, they heard a small splash and saw Totodile walking slowly towards them with his head hung low in shame. Ash had a feeling of fear that Misty might've gotten hurt during the rescue mission.

When slowly reached up to them, Ash kneeled down towards. "Misty, is she...?" he said worriedly.

"(I couldn't get her out, Ash)," Totodile croaked apologetically. "(I'm sorry. She said to not worry because they won't hurt her)."

Ash looked down on the floor, rather speechless of the news Totodile just delivered. Pikachu leapt off his shoulder and looked up to him and tried comforting him. Ash's fists with anger and emotion, physically threatening to lash out at anyone at any moment. Everyone moved away from apart from his pokemon and Black Jack, who stepped towards his rival. "As we were saying," Black Jack continued. "We got some good news... the leaders of both teams are going to meet up at that tavern tonight at nine."

Ash's fists stopped shaking as he calmed himself down. He placed his hand on Totodile's head, much to his surprise. "It's okay, Totodile," he murmured while putting on a forced smile. "You tried."

Totodile and Pikachu towards their trainer and friend and hugged him in return, thanking him for his forgiveness while he hugged him back.

"I sensed something burning inside you just now, Ketchum," Black Jack thought to himself while showing a smirk. "Tonight, we can pour some gasoline on it."  
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More coming! Reviews please!


	23. Episode 6, Cahpter 5

**Chapter 5**

Meanwhile, back at the village, while Black Jack and the others were spying on Team Ocean, Chan, Black Jack's Blaziken, was leaning against a wall of one of the burnt tall buildings in a dark alley. He gazed at a small fire alight on his finger with boredom. He heard some footsteps running towards him but didn't respond.

Soon, another Blaziken, who was inches shorter than him, ran into view and then leapt towards him with a jumping kick. Chan quickly ducked while still holding the small flame alight, making the other Blaziken miss his attack, lose his balance and fall to the floor. "(You were too noisy, Blaziken)," Chan growled calmly as he walked towards him.

Suddenly, a Hitmonlee fell and crashed face first onto the floor behind Chan, missing him by an inch. "(Too clumsy, Jacky)," Chan growled without turning around.

A Magmar came into his view and ran towards him. He aimed a flaming punch to his chest but Chan caught it with his own unlit paw and kicked him in the gut, sending him crashing to the floor. "(Poor choice, Magmar)," Chan growled calmly, still holding the small flame.

Suddenly, he sensed a folded steel chair flying towards him from behind and quickly retaliated by knocking it away with his unlit paw. He then felt his finger being pressed on and turned around to see a scarred Medicam, a human-like pokemon, putting his fire out with fingers of his own.

"(Impressive method)," Chan growled suspiciously. "(Who might you be)?"

"His name's Tattoo," a deep voice replied, catching everyone's attention. "He can't speak."

They turned towards a grey and rocky rhino-like pokemon, a Rhydon, walking towards them. He had a mechanical arm replacing one of his normal ones. "(Mecha)," Chan growled with a smile. "(It's been a while)."

"Five years, three months, twenty one days, twelve hours, twenty one minutes and thirty four seconds to be exact," the Rhydon replied, speaking in human English language.

"(Hey, did you count that yourself or did you get someone else to count it for you)?" the other Blaziken growled while smiling. "(Remember me, pal? It's me. May's Blaziken)."

"How can I forget? Black Jack told me about your evolution back when we were taking care of Team Dark." He looked towards two other pokemon Chan was training. "Hey, you guys are new. What are your names?"

"(I was never given a name)," Magmar growled as he held out his paw to shake Macha's, which he accepted. "(Just call me Magmar)."

Jacky, Jerry's Hitmonlee, struggled to get to his feet after plummeting from the tall building. "(Ow… my chest)," he moaned.

"(That's Jacky)," Magmar growled pointing to the kicking pokemon. "(Belongs to a trainer who has difficulties)."

"(Sorry, what)?" Jacky asked curiously.

"(So, what bring you guys here)?" Chan growled.

"We heard about this burning village. We came around here to find out who started it and sort them out," Mecha replied. "Any suspects?"

"(I was told that Team Molten might be the cause of this burning village but I think we got bigger problems than that. You probably may have heard of this but Misty was recently kidnapped)."

"Kidnapped? By who?"

"(Team Ocean. Something tells me that they might be joining forces to fight against us. Black Jack and the others are spying on them as we speak)."

Meanwhile, in another location of the village a yellow rabbit with red ears, cheeks and tail was happily decorating a huge blue meteorite shaped pokemon with different coloured flowers. They were Plusle, who belonged to Rui, and Metagross, who belonged to Black Jack. It had a dull look on its face while Plusle placed another hoop of flowers around one of its legs.

"(Plusle)," Metagross growled deeply. "(When Rui said she placed you in charge, she didn't actually mean it)."

"(But you look pretty with those)!" Plusle squealed in delight.

"(I don't like pretty)," Metagross growled back as it quickly shook off all the flowers from its steel body.

"(You're no fun)!"

"(I'm aware of that, yes)."

"(For the millionth time, Glalie, they were using Confuse Ray, Sweet Kiss and stuff)," Sceptile cooed calmly. Metagross and Plusle turned their attention to the large gecko and ice ball pokemon coming towards them.

(Secptile! Glalie)!" Plusle cried loudly while happily waving to them. (It's been a long time)!"

"(Hey, Plusle! Long time is right)!" Glalie yelled back, floating towards him. She noticed Metagross's grumpy and serious looking face and decided to help put it out of its misery. "(Hey, Plusle, how about we play somewhere else? I know a kid you can play with)."

"(Oh? Who is this kid)?" Plusle cooed excitedly, following the ice ball-like pokemon.

"(Too much sugar)," Sceptile commented towards Metagross after the two playful characters left the scene.

Metagross let out a small grumble in response and Sceptile sensed some negative energy from it and it wasn't about Plusle, who unwittingly made him feel like a fool. "(Let me guess. Salamence, right)?" Sceptile cooed.

"(How does everyone know that)?" Metagross growled. "(Don't tell me, I should be happy for him and all, and I am. It's just that we've been travelling with him for a very long time, Jack never released any of us and apart from us he never captured any other pokemon)."

"(That explains a little. I heard that Salamence left sometime this afternoon)?"

"(Yep, left with Aurora to protect some group)."

"(WHAT)?" two pokemon roared in shock and anger, surprising them. They turned towards their attention, which turned out to be Nidoking and Feraligatr.

"(How can you guys let Salamence go away like that!? All alone and stuff)!?" Nidoking snarled angrily.

"(He's not alone)," Metagross growled in reply. "(He's with Aurora)."

"(ALONE with Aurora! We don't leave each other alone! Even with a female)!"

"(What is it with you, the females and this 'alone' stuff)?" Sceptile cooed in puzzlement.

"(Let's ask Feraligatr)," Nidoking growled as he turned towards his crocodile friend. "(Mate, do you know what the water pokemon's number one rule is)?"

Feraligatr scratched his head with his claws while thinking. "(Never get caught in fishing nets)?" he answered unsurely.

"(No)."

"(Never take a bath in hot oil)?"

"(No! The number one rule is to never swim alone! Salamence is one of us and we never leave him alone)!"

"(You haven't answered my female question)," Sceptile cooed feeling quite ignored.

"(I'm going after him. I'll get Chan and Tyranitar)," Nidoking growled turning towards Feraligatr and Metagross. "(You two get Feraligatr and Metagross, and meet me at the main entrance of the village)."

Before anyone could respond, he ran away, much to their awkward surprise.

"(Too many knocks on the head)," Sceptile commented folding his forelegs.

Meanwhile, outside the village, Salamence and Aurora were flying through the air, travelling towards their location. As they flew, Salamence looked down and spotted a big red building down below with a symbol that appeared to look like a flying bird pokemon. "(What is it doing in the middle of a forest of all places)?" he thought to himself.

He kept on wondering why this building was there until Aurora called for his attention. "(Salamence, we're here)," she cooed loudly. Salamence turned towards the direction the Dragonair was looking at. It turned out to be a forest. She saw a light spark from within it, much to her puzzlement.

"(What's happening)?" she cooed with fear in her voice. "(Something isn't right)."

She began to fly faster with the angelic wings on her head, with Salamence following her closely. As they got closer to the smoke, the more apparent of the source became.

Two men in red and black uniform had their fire type pokemon surrounding a number of dragon types, who were trapped by an electric force field, created by four small gadgets around them. One of the men in uniform was slim and had blond shoulder-length hair; he was controlling a group of huge dog-like creatures called Arcanines, he was riding one of them that was wearing a black mask that showed only his eyes and mouth. The other was a muscular Japanese man controlling a flock of Charizards, wing lizard-like creatures and one of them also had a black mask, also showing his mouth and eyes.

"(Two men in red and black uniform)?" Salamence growled as he and Aurora arrived on the scene. "(If they're controlling those fire type guys then they must be Team Molten the guys were talking about)."

Aurora let out a loud cry, catching Team Molten's attention, while flying down towards them. The two men turned their attentions to her. "Well, look what the dirty Meowth dropped in, Kenzo," the blond man said in a French accent with a lady-like tone.

"This looks familiar, Pierre," the Japanese man replied suspiciously in a scratchy voice. "If I'm not mistaken, this must be the Dragonair we were busting up before we stole them supplies from that village."

"(Them again)," Aurora cried angrily while Salamence flew into the scene. "(They're the ones who had me beaten badly! Now they want to capture my friends and family)."

"(I'll take care of them)," Salamence growled in a determined way, walking in front of his Dragonair friend.

"My precious Arcanines, if you please," Pierre ordered in a girly fashion, motioning five of his dog pokemon, apart from the masked one, to attack and capture the two dragons. They stopped a small distance away just in case Salamence would suddenly attack them.

"(Salamence)," Aurora cooed worriedly. "(You can't…)"

Salamence looked back to her and smiled. "(Have faith)," he growled.

"(She's got a point)," one of the Arcanines growled as he stepped forward. "(How can you beat all of us)?"

Salamence turned his attention back to the dog pokemon. "(Easy)," he growled simply and confidently as he glowed vigorously before quickly shooting out a powerful energy beam out of his mouth.

Two of the Arcanines shot out powerful fiery beams from their mouths towards Salamence. One of them collided with Salamence's Hyper Beam attack, causing an explosion while the other was reaching for Salamence, much to Aurora's extreme shock and concern.

"(Salamence)!" she screamed.

Salamence's eyes glowed, preparing to defend himself, as the second fiery beam was inches away from him. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, another Hyper Beam was shot out and collided with the incoming beam, causing another explosion, much to everyone's surprise.

Salamence's eyes stopped glowing. "(What was that)?" he growled in a confused way.

His question was answered when a number of friends landed on their feet in front of him – Tyranitar, Nidoking, Feraligatr, Metagross and Chan the Blaziken. Alongside them were Sceptile, Mecha and Tattoo, who was carrying the folded steel chair.

"(Team Santa has come to town)!" Nidoking bellowed enthusiastically.

"There are two things wrong with that statement," Mecha said noticeably. "One, we're not Team Santa. Two, this is not a town."

"(It's an expression)!" Nidoking growled angrily.

"(Hey! I was about to use Protect)!" Salamence roared in annoyed way. "(I can take on these guys myself, y'know)!"

"(Oh, we know that)," Nidoking growled showing a big smile. "(But you know what the water pokemon's no.1 rule is)."

"(What does getting caught in fishing nets have anything to do with this)?"

"(Oh, what the flip)…" Nidoking growled feeling frustrated as he fell to the ground.

"Don't just sit there, Pierre!" Kenzo barked. "Get your Arcanines to attack or I will!"

"How about I take three of my Arcanines, you take three of your Charizards and the rest can look after our new pets?" Pierre suggested calmly.

"Whatever! No.2, 3 and 4! Get them!"

Three of his Charizards flew towards their opponents while Pierre called two of his Arcanines back. "B, C and D! Get them, my pets!" he cried.

"(Let's rumble, boys)!" Tyranitar roared.

Arcanine B shot out a stream of flame out of his mouth towards the group, making them split into different directions. Metagross, Salamence and Aurora flew into the air while the others ran into separate ways.

After rolling out of harm's way, Feraligatr grabbed Sceptile and held him like a machine gun. "(I got a Sceptile here and I'm not afraid to use it)!" Feraligatr growled aiming Sceptile at one of the Arcanines, C. "(Feelin' lucky, punk)?"

Sceptile then quickly shot out numerous bullet seeds out of his mouth while Feraligatr aimed for the enemy. "(Sweet, I always wanted to do this)," Feraligatr growled gleefully while the huge dog pokemon ran to avoid the attack while he gave chase.

Mecha and Tattoo were battling against two other attacking Arcanines, C and D. Flamethrower attacks shot out of the Arcanines' mouths. Mecha aimed his mechanical foreleg on the ground and shot out a powerful beam, sending him airborne to avoid the attack while Tattoo ran into a different direction.

The Arcanines looked up and saw a burning meteor rushing down on them. Sensing the danger, they both jumped out of the way making the meteor crash onto the ground causing an explosion upon impact. The two large dogs shut their eyes tightly to avoid the dirt and dust getting into their eyes. After the dust cleared, they both opened their eyes and saw Mecha crouching where the ground was struck; they became shocked after realising the Rhydon had that kind of incredible strength.

While they were distracted, Tattoo, with steel chair in his paws, took his chance as he ran up towards his partner, who was recoiled from the impact. He leapt up onto his head and then leaped towards one of the preoccupied enemies, kicking the steel chair into his face, knocking him down.

Arcanine D stopped getting distracted and quickly fired his flamethrower attack, trying to take advantage of Mecha's recoil. Mecha suddenly stood up and aimed his mechanical foreleg towards the flaming stream. "Mecha Cannon!" he roared as the palm of his modified foreleg opened a hatch and fired a huge energy beam. The two attacks collided and exploded upon impact. While the dust was clearing, the Arcanine attempted to take advantage by tackling Mecha through the dust but missed after Mecha dodged the attack.

Tattoo quickly unfolded the chair and set it up while Arcanine B was recuperating from the attack. He skipped back a few times and then ran towards the chair, in order to use it for extra height to attack. But Arcanine B suddenly ran and tackled the chair, which hit Tattoo in the leg. The suicidal Medicham got knocked down, now holding his hurt knee.

Mecha was gaining more battling momentum than Arcanine D, thanks to a built-in computer a criminal organisation implanted inside his brain years ago. It calculated the stats and actions of his opponent. The huge dog opened his mouth to shoot out another Flamethrower attack but Mecha ran towards him and quickly closed his mouth with his metal paws. "Hehe. I read you like funny papers," Mecha said before slamming his hard rocky paw onto his opponent's face.

With Tattoo at a disadvantage, Arcanine B was getting ready to finish him off as he leapt up into the air, aiming his paws and hint feet down on his body. At the last second, Tattoo rolled out of the way dodging the attack. He quickly leapt from a handstand position, performing a somersault while spraying some red liquid from his mouth into Arcanine B's eyes, blinding him.

Upon landing on his feet, he felt the damage on his hurt knee again. He kneeled down, clutching it. After taking in the pain, he looked around trying to take advantage of the blinded dog, who was running around aimlessly, and spotted a hidden object. He walked over to it with a limp and picked it up, revealing it to be a kendo stick, which he had hidden before the battle commenced. He limped back to Arcanine B and viciously whacked him on the leg with it, making him suffer the same injury he felt.

Meanwhile, Salamence, Metagross and Aurora were flying towards their opponents, the Charizards. Metagross, using his psychic powers, quickly hovered in front of its comrades. "(I'll take care of them)," he growled. "(You two go ahead)."

"(You sure you can do this)?" Salamence growled back to his friend.

Metagross responded by charging towards the three attacking lizards. The Charizards blasted out their Flamethrower attacks at him. "(Metagross)!" Aurora cried, fearing for her friend.

But confidence showed on the faces on Salamence and Metagross as Metagross's body and eyes glowed vigorously. The three huge flame streams soon caught the meteor-like pokemon, completely covering him. Fear and shock came onto Aurora's face after seeing that.

But Metagross seemed completely unfazed after the fire evaporated as he continued charging towards the Charizards, ramming into all three of them, much to Aurora's surprise. "(C'mon! Now's our chance)!" Salamence growled. He and Aurora quickly flew past them, thinking of a way to battle against the other three Charizards that were guarding the dragons while Metagross battled the others.

Down on the ground, Nidoking, Tyranitar and Chan had run past the attacking Arcanines, and were running towards the others that were guarding the dragons. "(Luckily, we're battling two of them)," Nidoking growled. "(This ought to give us advantage)."

"No.1!" Kenzo yelled, looking up to his airborne Charizards. "Attack one of the enemies on the ground!"

The masked Charizard flew down with a speed of a shot out bullet and knocked down Chan, much to Nidoking's and Tyranitar's surprise. They stopped for a brief moment. "(Nidoking! You and your one-track mind)," Tyranitar growled before continuing on the attack, knowing that Chan would defeat the masked Charizard.

Chan quickly got up to his feet after being knocked down while No.1 safely landed on the ground. "(Judging by your mask, I take it that you must be the strongest of all the Charizards your master bears)," he growled.

"(A Blaziken… a worthy foe)," No.1 growled back calmly. "(At last, two of the world's strongest fire pokemon meet. If we were together, we would be unstoppable. Should you have any interest of joining us, I can convince my master to let you into my group)."

"(Thanks)," Chan replied calmly, somehow liking his opponent's polite attitude. "(But I don't think so)."

"(Huh. You may reverse your decision at any time… but until then, I won't stop)," Charizard growled before suddenly charging towards him.

While they battled, Nidoking and Tyranitar were battling against two of Pierre's Arcanines, E and F. The two dogs breathed out their Flamethrower attacks at them but they dodged the attack while continuing to run towards them. Arcanine E attempted a Take Down attack but Nidoking saw it coming, he grabbed him by the head and then tossed him up into the air.

While he waited to catch him, Arcanine attempted to take advantage as he ran towards him using his Take Down but Tyranitar grabbed him by the neck and slammed him on the electric barriers that were keeping the dragon pokemon inside. Arcanine F was being electrocuted while the green dinosaur wasn't feeling any effect or pain, despite holding the dog pokemon down.

Nidoking successfully caught his opponent with his clawed paws and poisonous spikes on his back. Arcanine E felt the sting of the spikes as he yelled out in pain before getting slammed down on the ground. He rolled onto his front after feeling great pain on his back but Nidoking wouldn't let the pain go away easily as he jumped and crashed his spiky back onto his, making the dog yell even more in pain.

Most trainers that had their pokemon beaten would show a look of disbelief, worry or anger. Pierre was no exception as he showed signs of concern seeing his precious Arcanines at a disadvantage. "No doubt we have some fine opponents," he thought. "Some of their attacks seem a little… ugly and violent, which is not my style. They remind me of someone."

Meanwhile, Feraligatr and Sceptile were still in pursuit of Arcanine with Sceptile's Bullet Seed attack. Soon, Sceptile's attack suddenly stopped, much to his and his team mate's dismay. Arcanine C quickly took advantage as he turned around and shot a lick of flame towards them. The two partners rolled sideways to dodge and Feraligatr was now being held by Sceptile. Feraligatr shot out a huge stream of water of his mouth, splashing it all over the fiery dog and causing a lot of pain. "(It burns)!" Arcanine C wailed painfully. After releasing the blue crocodile, Sceptile then ran towards the dog and the leaves on his foreleg glowed vigorously green while forming it into the scythe-like weapon. He then proceeded to slam his attack on the wet part that was splashed on his opponent, causing even more pain and damage.

Back at Chan and Charizard No.1's battle, they were both having a test of strength by placing their paws together trying to push each other down while staring at each other's determined eyes. After a long while of struggling, Chan slowly turned his face away, showing a look of straining on his face. "(You're getting weaker)," the masked Charizard growled, feeling rather triumphant. "(I'm stronger)."

"(Apologies… but it's your breath)," Chan grunted before shoving his opponent away. They both stared each other down before engaging into bearhug-like move. Chan wrapped his arms around the Chairazrd's midsection to squeeze the air out of him while he did the same but he wrapped his forelegs around his head, squeezing it.

Meanwhile, Salamence and Aurora attempted to find a way to break the barrier but Kenzo's remaining Charizards were in their way. "(Going somewhere)?" one of the Charizards, known as No.5, growled smugly as he got into Aurora's way.

"(You)!" the blue dragon screeched with angry looking eyes, recognising him as one of the pokemon who brutally attacked him. She attempted to hit her Tail Slam but the fiery lizard easily caught it.

"(The skin… it sure is smooth)," No.5 growled evilly with a smile after stroking it slowly.

A worried look appeared on her face while he rose his claws, making them glow energetically while holding onto the tail. Suddenly, before he could the devastating blow, he felt that was being physically being held back. He looked at the culprit and it turned out to be Salamence, holding onto his paw stopping the attack. "(No one touches her)," he growled angrily. "(Not while I'm here)."

"(Fine, I'll touch you instead)," the Charizard growled nastily before releasing Aurora's tail and punching him in the face, much to her dismay. She retaliated by slamming her tail on his back, making him angry as he turned around. "(That hurt)," he growled. "(I'll make you pay)!"

But, he was forcefully turned around by the angered Salamence, who too had an angry look on his face, and was then shoved back. "(Is that your best shot)?" he growled bitterly.

"(Try mine for size)," came another Charizard's voice.

Salamence then felt the scorching heat of the Flamethrower attack on his back and let out a painful yell. After the attack, he turned around, still with anger in his eyes. "(First, you guys treated like some garbage and now you've attacked me from behind. How low can you guys get)?" he snarled angrily. "(Tell you guys what. I'll make you guys hit so low, you'll hit rock bottom)!"

"(Ohh… your boyfriend's mad)," No.5 growled turning to Aurora while Salamence attacked the other Charizard, No.6.

Aurora retaliated by shooting a multicoloured beam from her mouth, hitting Charizard No.5 in the gut, making him feel the cold sting. "(Gah! Aurora Beam)!" Charizard growled in pain, as he rubbed his stomach after the attack finished. He then looked up at her showing a sly smile. "(You have spirit)."

He charged towards her but got knocked at by No.6 who was being tossed by Salamence, much to her surprise. "(I got a lot more! Keep flying if you want it)!" he growled angrily.

Back at Metagross's location, he was struggling to take down the three Charizards considering that it was three against one and they were faster. Most of the time, it found itself defending more than to go onto the attack. While he was attempting to shoot out his Shadow Ball attack, he felt that he was bitten from behind by the two Charizards, No.2 and 3, though he unfazed by their attacks.

"(My behind is not a chew toy! And it's not on the menu)!" Metagross roared before knocking away the Charizards. He quickly turned around to look at them. "(But let me show you guys what is)."

His eyes glowed vigorously before shooting two powerful Hyper Beams out of his eyes at them but missed as they dodged. "(Sorry, punk)!" yelled Charizard No.4 flying behind Metagross. "(Not hungry)!"

He shot a powerful fiery beam out of his mouth, hitting the meteor-shaped pokemon from behind. Metagross felt a great deal of pain when it hit him. Despite receiving a lot of damage caused by that attack, it wouldn't allow itself to give up easily. His eyes glowed an angry red, signalling that it was now angry. "(The fuse has blown up)," he growled.

It quickly turned around towards the Charizard who attacked with a fire type move and shot two dark energy balls out of its eyes. No.4 moved out of the way to avoid getting but a huge fireball came shooting out somewhere underneath him and hit him in the belly with thunderous impact, knocking him back into the Shadow Ball attack. Metagross's attack connected, causing explosion upon impact. The winged lizard fell unconsciously out of the smoke and crashed onto the ground.

Shock and surprise appeared on Metagross's face. He looked down on the falling fireball. It quickly evaporated, revealing a small black and yelled shrew with fire flaring on its back. "(A Quilava)?" Metagross growled in a puzzled tone.

The Quilava safely landed on its feet and next to a young girl who had a beautiful sea snake Milotic behind her. Metagross quickly recognised her, and it was now even more surprised. It was Alice.

"Metagross! Behind you!" she yelled warningly.

Metagross looked back and saw two Flamethrower attacks coming towards him from behind. It dodged the attack at the last second, making them miss. "Get ready to use your Iron Tail, Serenity!" Alice commanded.

The end of the Milotic's tail glowed vigorously. "Pyro!" Alice called.

Pyro nodded obediently and ran towards Serenity. He leapt up and curled into a ball. "(Aiming)," Serentiy cooed calmly before whacking the small shrew into the air with all her might.

"Now, Pyro! Flame Wheel!" Alice yelled.

A ball of fire surrounded the Quilava's entire body as he spun round, hitting one of the Charizards in the face while distracting the other one. Metagross took his chance as his eyes glowed before blasting out two of his Hyper Beam attack at his two opponents. The two energy beams collided, causing a huge explosion upon impact and the lizards fell unconsciously to the ground, much to Kenzo's dismay.

"That girl," he muttered angrily. "If it wasn't for her, my Charizards would've wiped that Metagross out."

"That girl does look familiar," Pierre replied while thinking. He then placed on an arrogant smirk on his face. "Oh wait, I know now and I have a plan."

Back at Chan and No.1's battle, neither pokemon were showing any signs of weakening. Realising this, they simultaneously shoved each other away. "(Let's do this the old fashioned way)," No.1 growled.

"(Why certainly)," the Blaziken growled back in reply.

"STOP!" Kenzo shouted.

Everyone abruptly stopped, turning their attention towards him. He pointed towards Alice. "By any chance, is your name… Alice Hummingburg, niece and student of Black Jack's?" he asked in a loud voice, loud for everyone in the scene to hear.

"What's it to ya?" Alice yelled back.

"My friend has proposed a battle to you! Should you decline his challenge, you and your interrupting friends will be force to leave us, same condition if you accept and fail. If you accept and win, we will release the dragon pokemon and you will never hear from us again!"

"Mecha, can you scan if he's telling the truth about releasing the dragons?" Alice asked.

"Sorry, Alice, I was only made for battle and stuff but not for scanning liars," Mecha replied. "Personally, I don't trust them but we want to save those dragons."

All of her uncle's pokemon were yelling out their roars and cries. "What are they saying?" she asked curiously.

"They're saying for you to battle. I agree with them. You can take him on."

"Then I'll do it." She looked at the opposition with determined eyes. "Whoever you are, I accept your challenge!"

"My name's Pierre by the way," Pierre said politely as he placed his fingertips on his chest. "My associate's name is Kenzo. Delighted to have you as my opponent, I do hope you put on a worthy battle." He tapped his foot on the side of the masked Arcanine he was riding on. "Let's go, A."

"For a bad guy, he seems pretty nice," Alice said noticeably.

"And can be a bit tricky too, so good luck, Alice," Mecha said.

Alice nodded in reply. She called for her Milotic Serenity, she followed her while Kenzo and Pierre returned all of their respective pokemon back into their pokeballs. Most of Black Jack's pokemon were puzzled why they did that, considering that most bad people mistrusted many. They could've pounced on the two members of Team Molten but they were not cowards.

Pierre and his Arcanine slowly made their way towards their opponents. They stopped a distance away from them. "Alice, before we start, there's something I'd like to confess," he said. He suddenly took a remote control out of his pocket. It had a number of different coloured buttons on it. "It's not my style to put up effort," he finished before he quickly pressed the red button, making his team and the barrier with the dragon pokemon inside disappear, much to Alice and her friends' shock.

"Hey! Where did they go?" Alice yelled.

"Darn. I can't scan for their location," Mecha said in reply. "They seemed to have just… vanished."  
----------------------------------------------------  
More coming! Reviews please! 


	24. Episode 6, Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Standing in the empty space of the forest were Alice and her pokemon friends with shock in their eyes after Team Molten disappeared from the battlefield. "(What just happened)?" Feraligatr growled in puzzlement. "(What they did was a good trick)."

"(That French guy used a remote control to get out of here)," Sceptile cooed in a down tone.

"(Oh, give me a break)!" Nidoking roared angrily kicking a small pebble, which flew into the sky until it was out of sight. "(How can we be so stupid?! Jack always told us to never trust anybody, let alone suspicious characters)!"

"(At least we weren't cowards like those guys)," Chan growled calmly in reply.

"(Cowards shmawards! I wanted to bust their heads in)!"

"(Will you calm down for one second)?" Tyranitar growled bitterly, placing his paw on Nidoking's shoulder. "(Yelling like that won't help anything. Besides, we got a dragon that needs comforting)."

He turned around, seeing Aurora slowly flying back to the ground. She was in complete sadness, tears forming in her eyes while Alice slowly talked over to her and slowly placed her hands on her face. "I… I'm sorry," Alice said, sounding slightly choked up.

Aurora responded by nuzzling on her face caringly, accepting her sympathy. She slowly turned around seeing Salamence flying towards her. "(My friends… my family)…" she cried miserably. "(I knew the risks, Salamence… fighting to save them)."

He flew over to her and carefully wiped the tear away with his claw. She looked at him and saw a determined look in his eyes. "(Don't worry)," he growled. "(We'll get them back)."

"(What are they going to do to them)?"

Before Salamence could answer, they heard a weak cry coming from a distance away. Everyone turned their attention to it, which was coming from deep inside the forest. They all ran into the forest, looking to find who or what it was. Soon, they found another Salamence, slightly smaller in size than Black Jack's Salamence, which appeared to be weak as it was lying on the ground. Next to it was a dragonfly-like pokemon, Vibrava.

"(Raincloud! Greenleaf)!" Aurora cried, quickly slithering towards the weakened Salamence. "(I thought they captured you guys too)!"

"(Who are you guys)!?" the Vibrava growled suspiciously stepping towards the other pokemon.

"(It's okay, Greenleaf! They're friends)," Aurora cooed. She looked down on Raincloud and gently nuzzled her face.

"Scanning for damages and illness," Mecha said as he focused on Raincloud closely while his in-built computer started to scan her.

Salamence walked over to Aurora, informing her that Raincloud would need to be taken to the pokemon center, also assuring her that Raincloud would be fine after they're done with her. Raincloud sniffed a few times at Salamence. "(Bluesky)?" she croaked weakly, trying to open her eyes.

Salamence turned her attention to the weakened dragon, feeling slightly startled but he kept calm. "(Sorry, ma'am, but you got the wrong guy)," he growled.

"(It's been… so long)…" Raincloud growled as tears formed in her eyes.

"She is suffering from a high fever," Mecha said after scanning Raincloud. "There are berries suitable for her but I think it's best that we take her to the pokemon center right away."

"Right," Alice replied, nodding in acknowledgement before seeing the damage on Metagross and Tattoo. "Are they going to be okay?"

"The damages are not permanent," Mecha said after scanning them both. "So there are no worries."

"(Wait)…" Raincloud growled weakly before anyone could pick her up. She turned towards Salamence. She tried to growl again but instead let out some small coughs.

"(No time, ma'am)," Metagross growled as he used his psychic powers to lift Raincloud up into the air.

"(Aurora)," Raincloud growled before coughing. "(Sing him the lullaby)…"

Aurora became surprised when Raincloud asked her to do that favour while Salamence was focused on getting the elder dragon to the center. He looked down on Greenleaf. "(Kid, if you follow me around, you'll be safe)," he growled.

"(How can I trust you)?" the dragonfly-like Virbrava croaked.

"(Your friend trusts me. Why should you be any different)?"

With that said, Greenleaf reluctantly agreed to follow Salamence and his friends back to the village and the pokemon center.

Meanwhile, Pierre, Arcanine A and Kenzo and the captured dragons still trapped in their electric cell, appeared in a different location. It turned out to be a huge metallic hall where a small camera was placed in one of the top corners.

"You should've let me take care of that girl, Pierre!" Kenzo said angrily.

"Oh, come now, Monsieur Kenzo," Pierre said. "We both had a hunch that most of the pokemon we were battling against belonged to Black Jack. It wasn't a coincidence that Alice Hummingburg, his niece, would show up as well. I had no doubt that with all his motivations of violence and titles, he would train them up real hard."

"Humph… a lucky punch was what it took that Black Jack to become so famous. I'd murder him."

"My dear friend, Kenzo, please. As much as I admire your optimism, Black Jack has quite an intelligent yet sadistic mind. I must say, we have something in common with but in different terms."

"Which is?"

"I'm the brain, you're the brawn," Pierre said smugly as he began twirling his blond hair.

"Are you calling me thick headed?" Kenzo said angrily, taking that remark as an insult.

"Partially speaking, yes. But your strength matches my intelligence. That's why we make a good team."

Kenzo let out a small snarl as he calmed down but still showed his angry eyes. Pierre still showed his smirk, noticing how easy it was to calm his partner down. Kenzo felt that even though the main task was to capture the dragons, he felt that his honour as a fighter was being tarnished because of his partner. "After all, we got what we needed to get. Why risk your life doing something unnecessary?" Pierre continued. "Now, if you excuse moi, I'm off to paint my nails."

After Pierre left, Kenzo took a look at the angry and scared dragons that were letting out their loud cries and roars, desperately trying to get out of their electric prison.

Sometime after getting Raincloud into the pokemon center to be treated, everyone was placed on guard patrol, protecting the village until Black Jack and the others return.

While patrolling, Salamence couldn't help but wonder why his heart skipped a beat when the elder Salamence called him 'Bluesky'. He was aware that someone was behind him and slowly turned around, knowing that the pursuer wasn't a dangerous type. It was Aurora.

"(Hey)," Salamence growled simply, sounding rather sorry for her.

"(Salamence…? Bluesky…? Could he be)…?" Aurora thought deeply, feeling a glimpse of hope in her heart while slowly slithering towards him. "(Salamence)," she cooed, with a choke in her voice, trying to not show any tears. "(You don't… remember me)?"

"(Wha…? What's wrong)?" Salamence growled with concern in his voice.

She lowered her head and her eyes were closed. She breathed deeply trying to keep calm. "(Raincloud… she asked me to sing you the lullaby)," she cooed.

She looked up to him and started singing him in a calm, soothing, pleasant voice. Puzzlement showed on Salamence's face, he was wondering why Aurora was singing to him. But then, it hit him, mentally.

His eyes widened while Aurora continued singing. As he felt how comfortable the song was, he slowly closed his eyes, taking in the song. He moved his head slowly to hers and began to nuzzle her. She was completely surprised of his gentle touch but quickly felt the comfort of his skin and nuzzled him in return.

An image appeared in his mind. He pictured a cave. Inside it was a small, blue baby dragon, known as a Bagon was put to sleep with the same song that Aurora was singing but this was a Salamence, which the Bagon claimed to be his mother.

After a while, Aurora came to the end of the song. They had stopped nuzzling but they still had their heads pressed against each other. "(Now I remember everything)," Salamence growled softly.

"(I missed you so much)," Aurora cooed softly.

"(I missed you too… tell me, is Raincloud my)…?"

"(Yes… she is)…" Aurora cooed. "(What happened to you)?"

"(Well…)," he started feeling a small lump in his throat, feeling rather emotional. As much as he tried, he couldn't get his words out because of this joyous and almost tearful emotion.

"Go on…" a man's voice suddenly said, catching their attention. The two dragons snapped out of their emotional embrace, immediately looking at the man who would dare disturb them.

"(Jack)!" Salamence growled in surprise. "(How long have you been standing there)?"

"Not long," Black Jack replied. "Just the part when you said that you remembered everything. The guys told me about you two but I think they're overreacting."

"(What were they talking about)?"

"What do you think?" Black Jack asked back in reply looking at Aurora. "Just because you guys were nuzzling, it doesn't mean you're in love or anything."

Silence came between them, with a slightly bashful Aurora looking at her long-lost friend while he shook his head while rolling his eyes in disbelief. "So, what happened to ya?" Black Jack asked.

"(Well)," Salamence began, still feeling a little choked. "(It all started before I met you, Jack)…"

-Flashback-

A long time ago, in the deepest of mountains, there lived a group of dragon type pokemon. Many of them were of different species such as Dragonites, tall, strong, orange-skinned creatures that were very powerful yet elegant, and Bagons, blue baby dragons with heads that were hard as rocks. They were hoping no one would find them and also to live happy, healthy lives.

They were wrong…

They were living happily and peacefully until a group of humans, dressed in poacher outfits, accompanied by many types of pokemon. It was night time with a downpour of heavy rain and lightning. They had various weapons, gadgets and traps at their disposal such as net guns. Many of the dragons, the adult and the young, were either caught or killed while trying to escape capture or attack the intruders.

One of the baby Bagons became frightened of the whole scenario, watching his friends and relatives getting killed or captured by the poachers. He screamed as he ran out of the valley in fear, hoping that he would get out of there alive, which he did. Still, he kept on running until slipped on the rocky grounds and fell onto the lower levels of the mountains, badly landing on his head. Because of his hard head, he managed to survive but it wasn't hard as rock, thus he was knocked unconscious. He had bruises and cuts on the rest of body.

It appeared he was doomed to his death… until a small blue meteorite-shaped creature came floating by.

The little Bagon slowly opened his eyes, waking up from his unconsciousness. He found himself inside a cave, alongside the blue creature and a burning campfire. "(Where… where am I)?" the baby dragon growled sleepily and dizzily.

"(It's okay)," the creature buzzed turning towards him. "(You were badly hurt so I thought I'd take you here. I'm Beldum)."

"(I… I)…" the Bagon growled trying to say his name but he couldn't answer.

"(I think you must've lost your memory)," the Beldum buzzed.

The Bagon was puzzled and confused. It was true… he couldn't remember anything. He looked around and spotted two fruits next to the cave wall. "(They're Pecha berries, very sweet and tasty)," the Beldum buzzed, assuming that the Bagon was going to ask what they were. The baby dragon's stomach began rumbling. "(Sounds like you're hungry)," the Beldum buzzed. "(It's okay, I'm feeling hungry too)."

It passed his new friend one of the two Pecha berries, keeping one for himself. The Bagon looked on with curiosity on his face as it started to eat his berry. He picked up his fruit and slowly nibbled on it and became surprised by the sweetness and deliciousness of it. "(Sweet, huh)?" the Beldum buzzed, which the Bagon nodded to him in response.

Suddenly, they heard some footsteps. "Dang! I can't believe how fast the storm came up," a child's voice said in a surprised fashion.

At the entrance of the cave, a young brown haired boy, wearing a red woolly jumper, a brown pair of trousers and shoes, was shaking his umbrella until it was dry enough to close it. He also had a torch in hand and used it to guide him inside the cave, in case it was not safe. After some searching, he spotted the two pokemon sitting by the fire, much to his surprise. The steel type jumped in front of the puzzled Bagon to defend him.

The boy smiled, noticing that the Beldum was protecting his friend. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said placing his backpack down on the ground. He crouched down and took some human and pokemon food and three of his pokeballs from it. After enlarging the pokeballs he opened them up releasing his pokemon.

One was a pink spiky rabbit called a Nidoran, the other was a small blue crocdile Totodile and the third was a young green dinosaur Larvitar. They looked at the two creatures with puzzlement as they never saw them before.

"Come on, guys," the child said. "Say hello."

The boy's pokemon quickly grabbed some of the pokemon food and quickly walked towards them, greeting themselves politely while the child looked through his pokemon guide book, wondering who the two unknown creatures were. Realising how friendly the three pokemon were, the Beldum and the Bagon greeted them back. After a quick look, he pocketed his book and walked towards them. "See? No need to worry," he said holding out his hand. "My name's Jack. You guys must be Beldum and Bagon."

The Bagon smiled as he shook Jack's hand with his paws. "Looks, you're in pretty bad shape," he said, noticing the cuts and bruises on the Bagon's body. He walked back into backpack and took out a spray can. After a couple of quick sprays on the Bagon, the baby dragon cried in pain after feeling the sting.

The Beldum became angry. It leapt and slammed his body on Jack's face, knocking him a small distance away until he hit the cave wall. Totodile and Nidoran became shocked and ran towards the steel type pokemon, yelling at it for hitting their trainer. They got into an argument but Larvitar stopped the fight, explaining to the Beldum that it was a healing potion that helped cure any wound or bruises while complaining to his friends that they shouldn't treat others that way. Beldum, Totodile and Nidoran were ashamed of themselves.

Jack was momentarily dazed as he picked himself up, still showing his smile. "It's okay," he said upon recovery. "Why don't we all have a good rest, huh?"

Everyone agreed. After everyone had their snacks, they all had a good night sleep with Jack's pokemon placed inside their pokeballs and Jack, Beldum and Bagon sleeping inside his sleeping bag.

-End flashback-

"(…And after a couple of days, when you guys were about to leave, we realised that we hold some special connection and we wanted to come along too)," Salamence growled.

"Yeah," Black Jack said noticeably with a sigh. "It's kinda weird when you known someone for a short time and suddenly you have this nice bond."

"(So that's why you didn't recognise me at first)," Aurora cooed.

"Another thing, Alice told me about those two thugs from Team Molten who captured a bunch of dragon you belonged to, Aurora. We need to find that base of theirs."

"(Wait, I remember something)," Salamence growled. "(I spotted a base that had the same symbol as theirs while Aurora and I were flying towards her group)."

Black Jack placed his finger on his lips, showing that he was thinking. He then showed a small smile. "I have a cunning plan," he said.

Apart from Aurora, they noticed that they were being spied upon. Black Jack's other pokemon and Greenleaf were peeping around the corner from one of the buildings. "(So after all this time, Bluesky was hanging around with you guys)," Greenleaf growled. "(He's gotten big and strong)."

"(I never knew that)," Chan growled. "(None of us did)."

"(He's pretty lucky)," Tyranitar growled with a smile. "(He's the only one out of all of us who still has a living parent)."

"(Feraligatr and I never knew our parents)," Nidoking growled. "(Ain't that right, buddy)?"

To their surprise, tears were streaming down on the blue crocodile's face. "(Are you sympathy crying again)?" Tyranitar growled, in a dull tone.

"(No)…" Feraligatr sobbed. "(I just stepped on a thorn)."

"(Liar)," Chan growled. "(And I don't need my sensing abilities to find you out)."

Feraligatr immediately stopped his crying. "(Who asked for your opinion)?" he growled with his eyes getting thinned as he gotten slightly moody.

Meanwhile, at the pokemon center, Alice was looking through a glass window with a look of concern in her eyes. Tattoo, Metagross and Raincloud were being nursed back to health. She felt her right shoulder being lightly pressed, she quickly turned to the right direction to see who was getting her attention but no one was there. She turned to the other direction and saw Isaac Wolfpack, Wes's associate.

"Time out, Alice," he said, holding two bottles of water. He handed one to Alice. "Take one, it's on me."

"Thanks, Isaac," she said as she politely accepted the offer.

Both of them took a swig of their drinks. "So, how are they doing?" Isaac said, looking at the injured and sic pokemon.

"They're doing fine," Alice replied. "Though I do think Tattoo got hurt the worst in that battle."

"I thought as much. Tattoo is like a stuntman or a daredevil, he never use a safety net or anything."

"How did you guys meet Tattoo?"

"I'll try to keep the story short. After your uncle Jack left the Team Dark building after we kicked their behind, we were looking around to look for any pokemon or stuff we find useful. When we got to the prison section, we saw Tattoo there, behind those bars. He was shaking like he was trying to hold something in or something. Mecha recognised him straightaway and told us that he was taken to be tested with drugs and stuff, that's the reason why he gets suicidal all the time."

Alice let out a small sigh. "Why can't guys like Team Dark understand that pokemon can't be treated this way?" she asked sadly. "It's just… wrong!"

"My simple answer is this…" Isaac said, showing a shrug. "They're just idiots. I've been meaning to ask. Why didn't you come get the rest of us when you went off to fight against those two Team Molten grunts."

Alice looked down, feeling ashamed of herself. She knew the consequences of going alone. There were a number of people she could've called to go with her. "Hey, don't feel bad about it," Isaac said. "It's okay. You probably didn't have much time to call for the others and besides, we got enough people and pokemon to help the others out already."

"For a guy who lies on the couch all the time, you give out good reasons," another man's voice said, catching their attention. They turned towards the man standing by the door, Detective Stevens.

"Well, you got the reasoning part right," Isaac said.

Alice resumed back into her ashamed state. "Hey, don't worry about the dragon situation," Stevens said. "C'mon, you did your best."

"Yeah, I did my best and look what happened," she replied tonelessly, predicting what her other friends were thinking of her right now.

"Still, we'll get them back one way or another," Isaac said placing his hand on Alice's shoulder. "Would your uncle feel let down if something like this happened?"

Alice showed a small smile. Her uncle never gave up on anything, not even after one minor setback. "Thanks, guys," she said now feeling determined. "All we need to do is get everyone back."

"Hey, guys," said another man's voice, catching their attention. This time it was Brock, Ash's long time friend. "Black Jack's calling up a meeting. He said he's got a plan."

That night, at the tavern, a number of Team Molten and Team Ocean members were having drinks. Their leaders were sitting at the same table drinking theirs. One of them was wearing a red and black suit and a pair of glasses; he had short black hair combed backwards. His name was Maxwell. The other was a six-foot five, medium built man wearing blue jeans, black jacket with a stripy blue and white t-shirt underneath, and a blue bandanna around his head. He had a scar shaped like a cross on his right cheek and an eye patch on his left eye. The man's name was Ross.

"How fortunate of you to team up with us," Maxwell said, taking a sip of his tea. "If you didn't, Black Jack would have disfigured your team."

"Huh, no way," Ross said bitterly. "I just find him and his pests annoying because they have been messing up with our plans. I just thought that teaming up with you would help get rid of them quickly."

"Of course. I also feel that Black Jack would put on a damper on our plans too if we don't do something."

"Yes, but remember our deal. After all of this is over, Team Ocean will be putting a damper on you," Ross continued as the crowd began to quiet down.

"Yeah, do that first and then we'll beat you guys up," said a deep, scratchy voice catching their attention. They turned towards and were surprised that Black Jack, with a bottle of beer in hand, Ash, who looked like he would lash out on anyone at any moment, and Pikachu, riding on Ash's shoulder, were standing in the tavern with a bunch of enemies surrounding them. For most people, it's an equivalent to saying, "Please end my misery." But not to them, both villainous teams knew that they would be badly hurt if they laid one finger on Black Jack and Ash. "I've come to talk. Not to fight this time."

Maxwell and Ross had puzzled looks on their faces. "What do you have in mind?" Maxwell asked.

"Because I'm feeling slightly generous, I'm going to give you guys a chance," Black Jack said. "A chance to do whatever you want without me busting your brains out."

"Let me guess," Ross said. "A pokemon battle?"

"Not just any battle," Black Jack continued. "You're not going to get a one-on-one contest, you're not gonna get a tag team contest. How about we have a five-on-five trainer battle?"

Ross and Maxwell smiled, liking the idea.

"Don't get overexcited yet," Black Jack said. "There's more. Each trainer will use one pokemon each. We'll be starting with the first two trainers, one from my team and one from yours, with a two minute time limit. When the time ticks to zero, one more trainer from both sides will get in the brawl. The last team standing wins. If your team wins, you guys can do whatever you want. If my team wins, I'll decide on your what to do with you."

Maxwell and Ross looked at each other like they were communicating telepathically. "Think about it," Black Jack said. "All you can eat, one more battle, that's all I'm asking."

Maxwell let out a small laugh. "You're a bit of a fool, Black Jack," Maxwell said. "Coming here just to challenge us to a battle."

"You sound confident," Black Jack said. "I take it that you two will accept my challenge."

"Yeah, it's a deal," Ross said. "One question, what would you say if we refused your battle."

Black Jack looked down and let out a little chuckle. "Oh, dude, dude, dude," he said softly. He took a last swig of his beer before feeling the cool, crisp taste of his favourite drink. "Mmm… that's some good beer," he said relaxingly.

Ash quickly snatched the empty beer bottle and smashed it right into one of the Molten grunts' face, smashing the bottle into pieces and a lot of them got stuck into his face. Everyone, apart from Black Jack, was in total shock. The grunt screamed in pain. Pikachu leapt off Ash's shoulder with his red cheeks showing electric sparks, ready to zap anyone who got in his trainer's way.

"Felt good, huh!?" Ash said angrily.

"What the hell!?" the grunt cried.

"Yeah, pretty much how I felt when you took Misty away from me!" Ash yelled as he grabbed the hurt grunt by the neck collar of his uniform. He raised his other hand and clenched it into a fist. He raised it into the air, about to deliver another blow. However, he became hesitant as his fist shook with anger.

"Go on, Ketchum," Black Jack said. "Pour some gasoline already."

Ash decided not to do any more harm. He lowered his fist and released the grunt. He let out small breaths to calm his nerves down. "Let's get out of here," he said, feeling guilty. "C'mon, Pikachu."

He walked out of tavern and Pikachu, with a concerned look on his face, quickly followed. Black Jack stood still in his spot still showing a sadistic smile on his face. He looked directly at the bloodied grunt, quickly grabbed him by the collar. He held him for a brief moment before slamming him through the wooden wall of the tavern, much to everyone's shock, especially the barman's.

"That's my wall!" the barman complained.

"Aw, pick up a couple of stick or something," Black Jack replied calmly. He then looked the two leaders. "So, you guys are free tomorrow? Well, you are now. And just to make sure you won't forget, we've already marked your calendar," he continued, pointing to the hole in the wall before walking out.

Outside the tavern, Ash was looking down on the ground, panting in and out while Pikachu was resting on his shoulder, comforting him. Black Jack walked up to him. "So, how did it feel?" he asked.

"I hate it," Ash replied. "I feel like throwing up."

"When I was your age, I used to puke at the sight of blood but I got used to it," Black Jack said, assuring his respected rival that he too would get used to it as well.

"Tell me that's a lie," Ash said, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the man who always enjoyed breaking necks and snapping backs.

"It is… it is a lie," Black Jack said, motioning a little shrug. "I was always happy when I see blood ever since I joined Team Rocket. Now c'mon, let's take the bike and get outta here."

They made their way into the forest where Black Jack placed his motorcycle, not far from the tavern. When they got close, the bike suddenly exploded, knocking both Black Jack and Ash off their feet. Black Jack immediately sat up with shock in his eyes while Ash and Pikachu struggled to get to their feet. Black Jack slowly got up to his feet. "Those… those…" Black Jack snarled, with anger slowly controlling him. He knew who it was.

Suddenly, a shadowy blur zoomed past them, surprising them. "What was that?" Ash shouted in shock. Black Jack looked around to see who it was. They both saw the four legged creature standing a distance away from them, glowing energetically blue. It wasn't clear who the mysterious creature was but they both recognised it.

"Why did she attack us like that?" Ash yelled.

Before anyone could answer, the blue creature fired a blue energy beam out of her mouth, hitting Black Jack in the gut. He let out a yell in pain while the incredible force sent him flying until his back hit one of the trees and then he fell flat on his back.

After seeing what happened, Ash and Pikachu ran to his aid. They both kneeled down, desperately trying to wake Black Jack up to no avail, he was unconscious. "It seems that your friend won't be able to make it tomorrow," said a familiar voice.

Ash and Pikachu turned around, seeing a familiar figure standing quite close to them. "Ross!" Ash yelled, realising that the creature was captured by him. "How did you capture her!?"

"Capture her? She followed me. She believed in my cause," Ross replied.

"No way! There's no way she would ever follow you!" Ash cried. Pikachu stood in front his trainer, showing electric sparks coming from his cheeks ready to fight his opponents. "Pikachu! No! We save our energy until tomorrow."

Pikachu held back his attack after listening to his friend's command. "That's right, why don't you give your all as usual… only to be led to your demise," Ross said smugly as he walked away with the mysterious creature.

After they left, Ash and Pikachu turned around their attention towards Black Jack. As they were about to start waking him up again, Black Jack suddenly sat up with evil eyes opened wide. "That felt so good," he snarled showing a sadistic smile. "Helped a little too… it just reminded me who would be refereeing tomorrow's battle."

Next episode: It's the final encounter with Team Molten and Ocean. Black Jack hopes to finish both teams off to protect his family, particularly his niece, and rescue the dragon group. Ash hopes to rescue everything Team Ocean has taken, particularly the love of his life, Misty. Everything will be gone… unless they win this final bout.  
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More coming! Reviews please!


	25. Episode 7, Chapter 1

**Episode 7: Eliminate and Survive**

Chapter 1

Black Jack and his associates were standing on the beach of Kindle Road, waiting for the enemy to approach. The place had huge and small rocks placed in different parts and Ash, Pikachu, Brock, Max, May, Christie, Jerry, Alice, Keith, Cassandra, Wally, their respective Gardevoirs and Tattoo, who was carrying a folded steel chair, were amongst the group willing to battle. "Okay, how long do we have to wait?" Jerry complained impatiently.

"Just cool it, Jerry," Brock said. "They'll show up."

"And if they don't?" May asked.

"Then their reputations as 'tough' criminal organisations would be in jeopardy," Black Jack replied with his arms folded. "Not to mention having their organs busted."

Ash's clenched fist shook angrily. He wasn't able to sleep the other night, all night long he was thinking of doing a lot of damage on both teams because of what did but he wasn't the only person who deeply desired to do that. Keith, who also couldn't sleep, wanted to do damage on the opposition, mainly on Team Ocean for their past sins against him and his father.

Soon, two vehicles came onto the scene. One appeared to be a red helicopter with the Team Molten symbol on the side and the other was a blue car with the Team Ocean symbol on the bonnet. They stopped a short distance away; team leaders, Ross and Maxwell, and their troops exited their respective vehicles. Some of them were recognisable; Pierre and Kenzo of Team Molten were there along with Ruth who was a member of Team Ocean.

"Hail, Team Black Jack," Ross, leader of Team Ocean, called towards the opposition. "And welcome to defeat."

"Defeat, Ross?" Black Jack called back. "The battle hasn't even started yet. Remember what the rules are. Five-on-five battle, two trainers battle each other until two minutes are up, two new trainers enter and it goes on until all five trainers from both sides take part. Last team standing wins. Got it?"

"Understood," Maxwell shouted softly and calmly. "So, shall be the referee for this match."

With a sly smile on face, Black Jack stepped forward. The villains were shocked with dismay while Black Jack walked onto the battlefield. "Surprised? You should be, Ross surprised me last night," Black Jack said. "No one has the guts to disobey the rules while I'm around. I have feeling you guys are going to pull off some stunts but don't worry about getting disqualified. You should be more worried about your five opponents."

As he got into the centre he looked at both sides. "Who's up first?" he asked.

Maxwell looked at Kenzo and motioned his head towards the field. Kenzo nodded and walked onto the battlefield. "I'm up first," Jerry said as he did the same.

"Jerry may not be the strongest trainer alive," Black Jack thought to himself. "But he may be able to find some weak spots on the enemy… plus, he did say he had some new tactics he thought up the other day. This better be good or else his pokemon will be literally toasted or drenched in no time flat."

Jerry and Kenzo were now standing a distance away from each other, ready to do battle. "Trainers, select your pokemon now," Black Jack ordered. Both trainers simultaneously took their pokeballs off their belts. "Release them now," he ordered, making the two starting trainers release them.

Jerry threw out his pokeball, releasing his Hitmonlee, Jacky while Kenzo let loose his masked Charizard, No.1, the strongest of his group. They both stood in their fighting stance waiting for their respective masters to order a command. Jacky looked at No.1 with curiosity in his eyes. "(Is that a thong you're wearing)?" he asked quizzically.

"(It's a mask, you fool)," No.1 growled bitterly. "(Be ready to be scarred)."

"(Fine, if you don't fear any of Black Jack's pokemon or any of his buddies, then bring it)!"

"(You're that Blaziken's student, aren't you? Where is he? I don't see him)."

"(Oh, he's… around)," Jacky replied back cheekily.

"Let's get it on!" Black Jack yelled as he hand chopped downwards.

"No.1" Kenzo yelled. "Rage Dragon Claw attack! Slash him to bits!"

"Make him slash some air, Jacky! Dodge!" Jerry commanded.

No.1 dived towards his opponent as he claws glowed energetically yellow, aiming his attack while powering up his attack. He did an upward slash but missed as Jacky barely dodged to his side.

"Taunt time!" Jerry called out.

"(High five)!" Jacky cried as he gave his opponent a quick pat on his paw before playfully jumping away. "(Five low)!" he called out as he showed the palm of his paw, seemingly allowing No.1 to hit him.

Like everyone else, apart from Jerry, No.1 was puzzled of what Jacky was planning. He shook it away before leaping a great height before he attempted another Dragon Claw on him. Jacky saw this coming as his eyes expressed his cheekiness. "Counter him with your Mega Kick!" Jerry yelled.

Just centimetres away from getting hit, Jacky yelled, "(Too slow)!" before withdrawing his paw and slamming his foot in his gut, causing a lot of damage and sending his opponent flying until he fell, crashing into one of the big rocks making them crumble into pieces. "(Who's the mon! The student of the great Blaziken, master Chan)!" Jacky yelled triumphantly as he got himself down on one knee and spread his arms out. "(This one's over! This one's over)!"

"Jacky, don't get cocky yet. We still got four more guys to go through," Jerry warned before he and the others noticed No.1 moving slowly underneath the pile of rubble. "…Or five still," he said nervously.

No.1 let out a loud angry roar while light energy burst from within him, blasting away the small rock that crowded all over him. Jacky and the others looked on in shock while the masked Charizard looked at him with anger in his eyes. "Well, Kenzo did say Rage," Black Jack thought to himself.

"Take Down," Kenzo ordered, which No.1 obeyed to as he rushed towards his opponent at blinding speed. It was too late for Jerry to order his next attack because of his and Jacky's hesitance as No.1 slammed his head on his opponent's gut, sending flying and crashing into another rock, which crumbled into pieces.

Jacky quickly sat up, shaking away his dizziness before getting onto his knees begging for mercy while No.1 slowly walked towards him. Jerry placed his hands into a shape of a letter T. "Okay, can we have a time out please?" Jerry cried pleadingly. "Can we just settle this over some milkshakes and beers?"

Almost everyone had a mixture of emotions towards Jacky and his trainer. "I have never seen this side of Jerry and Jacky before," Max said in shock. "Has he become soft or…?"

"I hope not," Christie said. "Let's see what happens."

"No.1! Flamethrower attack!" Kenzo yelled pointing at the begging pokemon.

The Charizard held his head back, breathing in some air into his lungs. "Jacky!" Jerry yelled, quickly putting his game face on. "Mach Punch attack!"

Jacky stopped his fake begging and zoomed towards his opponent. He leapt a small height and quickly punched him in the eye making him stop his attack. The masked Charizard became blinded, stumbling away from his opponent while covering his hurt eye. "Now where have I seen this before?" Black Jack thought to himself, putting on a small smile.

"Hey! A sneak attack like that's illegal," May complained.

"It isn't when Black Jack's around," Brock said. "Almost everything goes in his book."

"Now, while he's stumbling!" Jerry yelled pointing at the opposition. "Body Slam attack!"

Jacky ran towards No.1 until he was at a good distance as he leapt into the air, putting his body at risk as he aimed it for his head. "No.1! Duck!" Kenzo commanded.

Still blinded, No.1 crouched down making Jacky miss his attack and accidentally slammed into a rock face first. The rock was still in one piece but Jacky mind wasn't as he slowly moved his face from the rock, feeling the dizziness going on inside his head. "(My makeup's ruined)," Jacky whimpered dazedly.

"Okay! Two minutes' up! Next trainer from each side! Let's go!" Black Jack ordered after feeling the vibration and hearing the beeping from a pokegear placed in his pocket. He borrowed this device from one of his associates.

Ruth placed her hand on Pierre's chest while taking pokeball out of her pocket, signalling that she wanted to go first. Seeing what she was doing a distance away, Keith stepped forward as he took pokeball of his own. They were staring each other down for some time before the timer relapsed, feeling their hatred towards each other while having the urges to beat each other down to a pulp. At the same time, they both threw out their pokeballs, calling out the names of their pokemon.

"Get'm, Darkness!" Keith yelled as he released his black skinned Dragonite.

"Go! Tidal Wave!" Ruth yelled as she released her Golduck.

While Jacky and No.1 were recovering, their respective partners were getting ready for battle as they stood in their battling stances. "Darkness! Wing Attack!" Keith yelled, pointing at the opposition. Darkness zoomed towards the blue duck at great speed, aiming his attack towards Tidal Wave.

"Counter with your Ice Beam, Tidal Wave," Ruth commanded with evilness in her voice. Tidal Wave did as he was commanded, he glowed vigorously blue before a large stream of blue energy was shot out of his beak.

"Keith, don't attack straight ahead!" Ash warned. "Tell Darkness to dodge."

"Darkness, dodge out of the way!" Keith yelled. Despite that he quickly ordered his Dragonite to move out of harm's way it was too late, the attack was too quick for him to dodge. The move connected, hitting Darkness in the chest and concealing him in a block of ice.

"Darn it! Dragon types are weak against ice attacks," Max said worriedly. "Keith must be so ticked off with Team Ocean that he's letting his anger get in the way."

"If this continues, Keith won't stand a chance and we'll be at a disadvantage," May said.

"Er… I wouldn't be too sure about that," Brock said, spotting a small crack on the ice that was covering the black Dragonite.

"Darkness, Outrage!" Keith yelled.

Darkness's eyes glowed red while his entire body glowed the same colour. The crack on the ice became bigger and bigger until he broke free from his cold prison, showing his anger as well, much to everyone's shock. "On the other hand, I think this anger stuff may work for them," Max said nervously. "I guess Black Jack must've done some 'psychiatry' on them."

"Honestly, everyone, did you actually that an ice attack can beat against a ticked off dragon?" Keith asked in a sinister fashion. "I didn't."

"Why didn't that idiot Black Jack tell us that that pestering Dragonite was defeated after I froze him?" Ruth thought crossly as she looked over to him, also thinking about the sneak attack Jerry and Jacky pulled earlier. "He must be planning something."

"No.1!" Kenzo yelled after seeing his Charizard recover from his momentary blindness. "Grab that Dragonite and hold him there."

The masked Charizard nodded before he did as he was commanded. He rushed up towards his target from behind and grabbed him by the arms, holding him for Tidal Wave to attack. "Tidal Wave! Attack with your Water Gun!" Ruth yelled pointing at her opponent.

The Golduck breathed in, powering up his attack. Just seconds before he could release it, Darkness found the strength to break the masked Charizard's hold and throw him over his shoulder upon Keith's command. No.1 crashed on top of Tidal Wave stopping his attack. "Jacky! Body Slam!" Jerry's voice yelled.

After Tidal Wave and No.1 struggled to get to their feet, they saw Jacky in the air diving towards them. He used Darkness for extra height to gain momentum into his attack. Unfortunately for him, he got caught into the arms of both his enemies but that didn't stop Keith calling out his next attack. "Give them an Extremespeed attack!" Keith yelled.

Faster than the speed of sound, the black Dragonite sped towards his two opponents. While the opposition were still holding Jacky, they and their trainers weren't able to do anything because of Darkness's blinding speed as he slammed his tail onto their faces knocking them down.

"Okay, another two minutes up!" Black Jack yelled after the pokegear vibrated and beeped. "Send out the next one!"

Alice and Pierre from opposite sides were next up as they ran onto the battlefield while reaching for their pokeballs. "Go get'm, Pyro!" Alice cried as she tossed hers out releasing her large black and yellow fire-type monster, Typhlosion. He let a loud roar while flames engulfed around his shoulders and back.

"Pyro!? Now a Typhlosion!? When did this happen?" Wally said in surprise.

"Alice and Pyro must've trained really hard last night after being picked for this team," Cassandra replied.

"Aw! I wanted to see him evolve," Max complained.

"Let's go, Arcanine A," Pierre cooed in a confident tone, tossing his pokeball out and letting loose his masked Arcanine.

Ash heard some deep and quick breathing coming from Tattoo and looked into his direction. Tattoo knew that he was staring at him but he didn't care. He wasn't breathing to calm neither his nerves nor his excitement; he deeply wanted to go into battle despite his injuries he suffered previously. Whether he hated Team Ocean, Team Molten, both or neither, no one would ever know.

"Pyro! Mega Punch attack!" Alice yelled pointing at the enemy Arcanine. The highly determined Typhlosion did as he was instructed as he ran towards his target.

"Flamethrower, my precious," Pierre cooed towards Arcanine A who did as he was commanded as he quickly shot out a huge lick of flame at Pyro.

"Duck under it, Pyro!"

The monster quickly and barely ducked down just before the flames were about to hit him in the face. Despite his quickness, Pierre still had his confident smirk on his face. "Combine Iron Tail with your Extremespeed," Pierre commanded calmly. His Arcanine dashed towards Pyro at blinding speed while his bushy tail glowed energetically, powering up his attack. He swung his charged up tail with great velocity. No one battling was able to catch him at this speed as the move connected on the Typhlosion's head with a booming impact. Almost everyone showed hurt expressions.

Despite that the direct hit caused some heavy damage, the Typhlosion did not move an inch let alone knocked off his feet. The energy faded away from Arcanine A's tail and he soon discovered that his tail was caught by the Typhlosion's small but strong paws, much to his shock. He slowly moved his tail away from his face, revealing a huge bruise on it where the tail hit.

"That hurt," Alice said with narrowed eyes. Pyro said the same words in unison with her but in his own language. "Pyro! Slam and then Seismic Toss!" she commanded.

The huge Typhlosion tightly grabbed hold if the tail and harshly yanked it over his shoulder, slamming the Arcanine's back on the beach. Still holding the same tail, he tossed him up into the air. He then took the time to recover, placing his paw on his hurt head to nurse the injury.

"Darkness!" Keith yelled. "While everyone's down, catch that Arcanine and throw him down!"

After Darkness knocked down the masked Charizard, he saw the airborne Arcanine A and flew up towards him with the speed of a shot out bullet. He caught him in mid-air and tossed him down face first, making sure that he won't land on his feet.

"Now Dragonbreath!" Keith yelled. Darkness blasted out numerous energy waves out of his mouth, directing his attack towards the Arcanine but missed as the large dog rolled out of the way.

"Darkness, look out above you!" Keith yelled warningly.

The Dragonite looked upwards, seeing two red fisting smashing into his face. With great velocity and force, Darkness was sent falling and crashing head first into the ground. The impact was so great that upon crashing, the grains of sand were sent flying and a large hole was made.

Darkness clasped his paws onto his head in pain while No.1 slowly and safely landed on his feet. With a smirk, he looked down on the hurt Dragonite. "No.1, finish him off with your Dragon Claw!" Kenzo yelled.

"(With pleasure)," the Charizard growled as he held his claws up high, unaware of an upcoming attack.

"Jacky, Mega Kick on that Charizard," Jerry yelled. "Aim for the chin!"

Suddenly stopping his focus on his prey, No.1 looked up and found himself getting a kick in the anatomy his enemy was targeting with a great force. He fell violently with the back of his head hitting the sandy ground first. Hitmonlee posed in a martial arts stance, celebrating the knockdown.

"Jacky! Behind you!" Alice yelled warningly.

Jacky turned around, only to get hit in the abdomen with an icy blast attack. He was covered in ice, with a shocked expression on his face. "Now for the kill," Ruth said a smirk. "Tidal Wave, shatter him to pieces!"

"Hey! Wait! You can't do that! Jerry yelled out of fear of losing Jacky for good after imagining the merciless Golduck shattering the ice to small pieces, along with one of his most cherished pokemon.

Tidal Wave smiled sinisterly with his clenched paw glowed, powering up his upcoming attack and ran towards his target. "Pyro! Thrash attack on Tidal Wave!" Alice yelled.

Typhlosion looked up at the enemy who was running towards the frozen Hitmonlee. Anger showed in his eyes and ran towards him like a charging Tauros. The Golduck was inches from shattering Jacky to bits with a strong punch but Pyro tackled him in the side, knocking him down. He quickly placed Tidal Wave on his back and sat on top of him, still with anger in his eyes as he began pummelling his face like a punching bag.

After numerous shots to the face, Tidal Wave was too helpless and dizzy to counter. Pyro raised his clenched paw, ready to deliver the final blow to finish him off. But suddenly, he was knocked down by Arcanine A's Extremespeed, knocking him towards Jacky, who was still frozen inside the icy prison.

"Arcanine A, Flamethrower," Pierre cooed, targeting towards Pyro. The huge dog let out his stream of flame at the Typhlosion but he ducked out of the way, making the attack collide on the icy structure.

The block of ice melted, freeing Jacky from his imprisonment. "(Fr… fr… freezing)!" Jacky whimpered, now shivering from the coldness while wrapping his arms around his body before falling to the floor.

"Okay, next one up!" Black Jack called out after another bleep from the pokegear occurred again. Tattoo, from Ash's side, ran straight onto the battlefield with a steel chair and a kendo stick in his paws. He tossed the steel chair aside as he decided to use his stick first. But, much to everyone's surprise, no one from the opposite team was going into battle.

"Hey! I said next one up," Black Jack said, with slight impatience in his tone, while Tattoo started smashing everyone of the enemies' side on their heads or any other anatomy with his kendo stick. While the pokemon on their side were yelling their screams of pain, no one from Team Ocean or Team Molten was sending out their next battling pokemon. Not even their leaders were taking part.

While Tattoo, the homicidal and suicidal Medicham, was thrashing on the opposition, his team mates decided to take a short breather to recover from their injuries.

"So, that's it?" Ash yelled. "You give up already!?"

"What are they planning?" Black Jack murmured to himself.

Tattoo unfolded the steel chair and placed it on the ground before skipping a distance. He aimed his next attack towards Tidal Wave, who struggling to get to his feet after taking a beating he received from him. Tattoo ran towards the chair and leapt on it. "Tidal Wave! Behind you! Counter with your Water Gun!" Ruth yelled desperately.

Her Golduck quickly turned around, shooting out a quick and powerful spray of water out of his mouth towards the suicidal Medicham. The attack collided, the water attack splashed him the face, making fall and crashed onto his weapon. After the thunderous impact, Tattoo clasped his paw onto his back as he rolled onto his front, wriggling his feet about in pain. His team mates shut their eyes tightly after somehow feeling the pain Tattoo felt.

"Now, while everyone's distracted, attack Black Jack with your Mega Punch!" Ruth yelled, pointing at the referee.

Tidal Wave smiled knowing what Ruth's intention was. He powered up his attack as his clenched webbed paws vigorously glowed as he aimed his attack at Black Jack's face. With an expressionless look on his face, Black Jack easily grabbed his paw, stopping the attack by centimetres. He slowly moved it away from his face, showing his trademark frown even though no one could see it because of his dark sunglasses. "What are you doing?" he snarled bitterly. "You impudent brat."

He shoved the surprised Tidal Wave's fist down before slapping him in the face, much to Ruth's shock. The force of his slap made the Golduck turn around, holding his hurt face while feeling dizzy from the impact. As soon as he turned around, his face was painfully met by a chair smashed into his face, courtesy of Tattoo.

After being knocked down, Jacky stood by his head after he help took down No.1 and Arcanine A for the time being. "You got the idea, Jacky! Dizzy Punch attack!" Jerry commanded.

Jacky bent over looking into Tidal Wave's vacant eyes. "(You can't see me)!" he yelled while waving his paw between his and the Golduck's face. He stood up straight before dropping his fist right into his forehead.

Tidal Wave stood straight up, now holding his hurt head. "(I'm not a Psyduck or anything)!" he moaned

"Tidal Wave, look out!" Ruth yelled in a desperate tone. But it was too late, as the Golduck got throttled by the throat, courtesy of the paw of Pyro upon Alice's command.

"Body Slam him, Pyro!" Alice yelled.

Pyro turned his head towards his trainer and nodded, acknowledging her command. As he was about to lift him to deliver a thunderous slam, a black paw also grabbed Tidal Wave by the throat. Pyro turned to his partner Darkness, who smiled at the fact that they were finishing off one of their enemies. Darkness turned his head towards his human trainer who held his thumb out horizontally, with a small smile on his face. He then immediately changed his expression into a serious look while pointing his thumb down.

Seeing the signal, both Pyro and Darkness lifted Tidal Wave up by the throat, choking some the air out of his body before violently slamming him onto one of the hard rock smashing it to pieces, along with the bones and organs inside his body.

Black Jack looked down on Tidal Waves motionless body. Convinced he was unable to battle, he pointed his finger out to Team Molten and Team Ocean. "Tidal Wave's eliminated! He's out!" he announced, much to Ruth's shock and dismay.

As much as she hated to admit it, she had no choice but to zap her pokemn back into her pokeball. She looked on with hatred in her eyes towards Black Jack and his cubs, who she claimed that they had cost her this battle.

The combination of Team Molten and Ocean were now at a disadvantage. Two battling pokemon from their side, No.1 and Arcanine A, were facing four members of the opposing team. Despite that, Ross, Maxwell, Pierre and Kenzo still had their confidence, so did their pokemon.

They moved to their second plan for this battle. Pierre and Kenzo ordered their pokemon to keep dodging the attacks of the opposition to wear out their energy. The plan didn't last long as the pokegear bleeped and vibrated in Black Jack's pocket.

"Alright! Fifth and last guys in!" Black jack yelled. "Release them now!"

"This is what we've been waiting for! Right, Pikachu!?" Ash cried, determined as usual.

Pikachu let out a loud cry, also of determination, as he ran into battle before leaping into the air. "Pikachu!" Ash yelled. "Thunderbolt attack!"

Sparks appeared on the red cheeks of the yellow rodent, showing that he was powering up his attack. He let out a loud scream while shooting out a number of huge electric blasts out of his body. From afar, a huge spark could be seen and heard followed by an explosion.

After that powerful attack, Arcanine A and Charizard No.1 laid on the sandy ground motionlessly. Pikachu's team mates were not hurt but had unpleasant surprised looks on their faces, impressed by the power of his electric attack. They had to dodge his sparks after he unleashed his attack as sparks were flying almost everywhere. Pikachu still had the determined look on his face while small sparks were still showing on his cheeks while he stood on all four of his legs.

"That was… shocking," Jerry said, showing his surprised expression.

"Now there's a pun that doesn't need explaining," Keith said.

Out of all the members of the enemy side, Pierre and Kenzo were the most shock. "The Charizard and the Arcanine are out," Black Jack announced while pointing to their masters.

Admitting their defeat, Pierre and Kenzo returned their pokemon back into their pokeballs. "Well, look who's left," Jerry shouted across the field with confidence in his tone. "Five-on-two. How do you like that?"

"Is that all you got?" Ash yelled. "Is that the best you can do?"

Maxwell and Ross were showing off their little smirks. They took their whistles out of their pockets and blew into them, causing some loud noise. In response, everyone heard a loud roar along with a bird screeching.

"Oh… this can't be good," Cassandra said nervously.

At a far distance, some people spotted a huge four legged running into the scene while others saw a gigantic bird flying into the battlefield, safely landing on its talons. Everyone gasped with awe while seeing two of the most powerful creatures they would ever have to face. "No… they can't be," Alice said in shock.

Ash let gnarled his teeth while letting out a small snarl. "I was afraid of this…" he said as his clenched fists shook angrily.  
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More coming! Reviews please!


	26. Episode 7, Chapter 2

For those of you who doubted… it's ba-a-a-ack!

And for those of you who have been wondering what's been going on for the past couple of months and why I haven't been posting for a while, I'll let you know right now.

January: Had a bunch of uni assignments to do, keep on getting writer's block, been busy with my Valentine's Day One-Shots, judging a bunch of one-shots for the Roses and Chocolates one-shot contest and other personal issues.

February: Had a bunch of uni assignments to do, keep on getting writer's block, been busy with my Valentine's Day One-Shots, judging a bunch of one-shots for the Roses and Chocolates one-shot contest and other personal issues.

March: Had a bunch of uni assignments to do, keep on getting writer's block, been busy with my comedy One-Shots for Red Nose Day, wrote a one-shot for the Myths and Legends one-shot contest and other personal issues.

So, you see where I'm getting at. Phew Enjoy!

**Chapter 2**

Meanwhile, while Ash and the others were battling their opponents, All of Black Jack's pokemons, along with Aurora, were near their targeted destination, the Team Molten base, placed on one of the mountains Bluesky spotted previously. It appeared to be a red fortress-like base. They were hiding a distance away, hiding in the bushes and trees.

"(There it is)," Bluesky growled.

"(Not our usual style this, hiding in the bushes)," Metagross growled.

"(So, plans anyone)?" Tyranitar growled.

"(How about this)?" Chan growled. "(Aurora and I will sneak into the back and look for the prisoners, Nidoking, Feraligatr, and Tyranitar will provide distraction by ground and Bluesky and Metagross will provide distraction by air)."

Nidoking raised his paw up to get everyone's attention. "(Can't we just do it the old fashioned way)?" he growled. "(Charging up to those thugs, smashing their brains in and out and then save the hostages after beating up every last one of them? Because they're going to be guarding those guys and we're going to win anyway)."

"(See, here's the problem with you these days)," Tyranitar growled. "(You seem to have become predictable, and we're not supposed to be predictable. You see, there's a little thing we call variety)."

"(Me wanna know what variety is)!" Feraligatr bellowed enthusiastically, holding up his finger.

"(Basically, on this occasion for example, we got a variety of ideas of how we're gonna save the hostages)," Metagross growled explaining both the definition and more possible plans. "(We could all sneak into that building without being seen, we could provide distractions leading them into a trap, or we could)…"

"(Rumble)…!" Nidoking roared impatiently running towards the base after hearing enough talk between his friends. Aurora and Bluesky were not far behind because they were desperate on saving their dragon kind. The remaining pokemon were slightly dumbfounded after seeing their friends quickly proceeding towards their target.

"(What the heck! I've been bored anyway for the last couple of days)!" Tyranitar roared before running into action with his fellow crack addicts not far behind.

At the base, a number of guarding Molten grunts spotted them. They were standing guarding on various parts of the building. "Intruders! Stop them!" one of them yelled. The guards quickly blasted bullets out of the guns they held. Despite numerous bullets being shot out, none of them were able penetrate the hard bodies of the pokemon that were trained by the one of the toughest battling veterans. Chan, Bluesky and Aurora were the only exceptions but with Chan's great agility he was able to dodge each one that were threatening to puncture him while Aurora, who doesn't have much speed, wrapped her body around the Salamence's as he dodged each one.

One of the guards pulled out a grenade and tossed it towards one of the intruders running on the ground. Chan quickly spotted it; he quickly leapt towards it and kicked it like it was a soccer ball at the wall some of the grunts were standing on. One looked down and saw the grenade below and knew what was coming next. "Shi…"

BOOM!

The grenade exploded, blasting a huge gap in the walls. The guards fell and crashed into the demolished rubble.

BOOM!

That thunderous impact occurred when Tyranitar ran and rammed his entire body into another one of the walls, smashing it into pieces, creating another large gap and making another group of guards falling into the rubble.

Tyranitar and the others made their way in but they saw the metal base door shutting up, closing their chances of saving their hostages. After seeing the steel door tightly closed, Feraligatr took his chance to break it down. He glowed energetically blue, powering up his next attack while zooming towards it, attempting to break it down with his Tackle attack. The move connected with great impact, making a huge clanging noise upon collision but neither door nor pokemon were fazed by the blow, much to Feraligatr's surprise. "(It didn't work)!" the blue crocodile roared.

"(Well, if you can't find an entry)…" Metagross growled before slamming his entire body into the walls, which to the inside of the base. "(Then make one)."

"(C'mon, Aurora! Now's our chance)!" Bluesky roared as he flew directly into the hole Metagross created. Aurora and Metagross quickly followed.

"Hey! They're inside!" yelled one of the guards. "Get them!"

Many of the guards stood up, going in pursuit of the three pokemon that went in but they were stopped by the rest of the pokemon who were trained by one of the most sadistic trainers, Black Jack, as they stood in front of the broken wall. "(Twig break time)!" the enthusiastic Nidoking roared while his comrades looked at the enemies with eyes that showed pleasure.

Meanwhile, at a familiar location where Team Ocean's base was nearby, the group known as the Orre Pack, consisted of Wes, Isaac, Stevens, Rui and Mecha, were hiding in the bushes going through their plans. "Okay, everybody got that?" Stevens asked.

"Yep, we got it," Wes replied with confidence.

"Finally, after all this time we're going to battle some proper organisations unlike those thugs back in Orre, just the like good old days when we teamed up with the other guys," Isaac said.

"Coming to think of it, why do we get fight criminals like these when we're with them?" Mecha asked curiously.

"Destiny, dude! Destiny!" Isaac replied enthusiastically.

"Good luck, Wes," Rui said winking towards him while blowing a kiss while Plusle who was riding on her shoulder, held up a V sign with his paw.

"Yeah, sure. You too," Wes replied, turning away with a stressed look on his face, taking a pokeball off his belt. He then tossed it out. "Go! Quagsire!"

The pokeball opened releasing a blue mudfish like creature with flabby paws and legs, eyes so small that they looked like dots and dark blue fins on his back. "Ready to go for a swim?" Wes asked.

"Quag!" the Quagsire cried waving his paws in excitement.

"Are you ready, pardna?" Isaac asked Mecha in a Texan accent.

"Why the accent?" Mecha asked showing a dull expression.

"I don't knaw!"

Wes, Isaac, Quagsire and Mecha were getting ready diving into the sea in an attempt to find the Team Ocean base. Wes held onto the waist his Quagsire from behind and Isaac held onto Mecha's neck from behind also, both of them needed help to swim underwater.

"Are you guys ready?" Mecha asked.

"There's no point asking us that, Mecha," Isaac said before slapping his hard stone back. "Giddy up, horsy!"

"Let's go!" Wes yelled. With that said, Quagsire and Mecha jumped and dived into the sea with their human partners held onto them tightly.

"Be careful, you guys!" Rui cried encouragingly, as did Plusle after they splashed into the sea. Stevens, Plusle and Rui were now the only members of the Orre Pack standing on the beach in case their comrades need backup, which they sincerely doubt they will. "Do you think they're gonna be okay?" Rui asked, seeing if Stevens had confidence.

"They'll be fine," Stevens said with confidence in his tone, not knowing a couple of shadowed figures were sneaking up to them from behind.

Underwater, Wes and Isaac held onto their pokemon while they swam to find the base. They found it in no time at all and swam towards trying to find the entrance but to no avail. Wes smiled, he got his Quagsire to swim over to Mecha and get his attention. He then showed Mecha and Isaac that he was aiming his fist at the base. Getting the idea, Mecha turned his focus towards the base. With Isaac still holding, he dived towards the base, slamming his steel paw on the side of it, creating a huge hole in it. After he pulled his fist out, Wes quickly zapped his Quagsire back in before swimming into the hole while Mecha and Isaac quickly followed.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Damaged wall! Damaged wall!" buzzed a computer placed inside the Team Ocean base.

"What the…" one of the security grunts said as he checked one of the screens. He saw Wes and his team mates inside the base while water was pouring in from the outside. "Get the base to rise to the surface!" he yelled.

Back at the Team Molten's base, while their friends battled outside the Molten building, Bluesky, Aurora and Metagross flew around different corridors inside the base, trying to find the prisoners. "(I hate mazes)!" Metagross growled feeling irritated.

They suddenly stopped when they heard a cry when they came across a path that split into two different directions. "(Left! That way)!" Aurora cried looking at its direction.

"There they are!" a man's voice yelled behind them.

"(Stupid buggers)," Metagross grunted annoyingly knowing that it was one of the Team Molten grunts. He quickly turned around and quickly shot out two large energetic beams out of his eyes, blasting the opposition away, causing a huge explosion upon impact. "(That ought to hold them for a while)," he growled before following his two friends.

With Aurora hearing and following the cries of her dragon tribe, she was flying at the speed of light while Bluesky and Metagross followed closely behind. "(There it is)!" Aurora cried excitedly with joy in her voice as they close to a closed door, which led to the imprisoned dragons.

"(Out of the way, Aurora)!" the Salamence growled with determination in his tone before he zoomed past her, slamming his entire body onto the door, breaking it down. "(Banging)!" he roared triumphantly.

But there was nothing to be triumphant about yet. Upon breaking the door, not only were they seeing the dragon pokemon trapped inside the electric cage, they also saw a couple of Charizards and Arcanines standing in front of the cage. "(Heh. We meet again)," Charizard No.2 growled nastily with a smile.

"(There's always a backup when there are raids this, Metagross)," Bluesky growled.

"(Team Molten aren't as dumb as I thought they are)," Metagross replied. "(Or maybe they are)."

"(You've made a big mistake by coming here)," Arcanine B growled.

"(Speaking of mistakes, this is a small one compared to the mistake you did)," Bluesky growled back. "(By getting us involved in the first place)."

"(You have no business getting involved. If you want to live, the exit's that way)," Charizard No.3 growled, pointing to the direction behind the opposition.

Aurora slithered between her two friends before going in front of them. "(Please… let my group go)," she cooed. "(Take me instead)."

"(Fine, we'll take ya)!" Charizard No.2 growled. "(And the rest)!"

He leapt towards the blue snake dragon, in an attempt to grab by the neck. "(Leave her alone)!" Bluesky roared as he charged and slammed his head into his opponent's abdomen.

"(There's no point reasoning with them, Aurora because in the end, they're the idiots)," Metagross growled before charging into battle.

Aurora looked on with concerned eyes, not only was she worried about the enemies' strength in numbers but she was also puzzled of why must situations like this must end in violence. After a small second of being hesitant, she decided to push those worries aside and joined in the battle with high hopes of winning it with high hopes of getting her tribe rescued.

She started teaming up with Bluesky, attacking the Charizards that were ganging up on the blue dragon. One of the Charizards' clenched paws glowed vigorously, aiming his attack towards the Salamence who knocked his partner away. Bluesky noticed the attack coming for him and quickly dodged it making the punch hit a different target. It hit Aurora in the face, much to Bluesky's shock as the impact of the attack sent her unconsciously flying until she violently hit the steel walls and then to the floor.

"(How unfortunate)…" the Charizard growled tonelessly.

"(Aurora)!!" Bluesky bellowed with utmost shock in his voice. His voice echoed throughout the whole base.

Back at the Team Ocean base, Wes, Isaac and Mecha were being chased by a large group of Team Ocean grunts while the base rose to the surface of the sea. Their target at this moment was to find Misty and the other prisoners. "Coming to think of it," Isaac said, panting between some of the words he spoke. "Shouldn't Ash be the guy to rescue her?"

"Both teams know that he's here," Wes explained. "If he was to rescue her, Team Ocean might use her as bait. That's what Black Jack said."

"Good point. Ash hasn't been in a right state of mind recently," Mecha said. "But at least he's pumped up for that battle."

"Let's split up," Wes said as they came across two different corridors. "They may split up and carry on following but at least their strength in numbers will decrease when we have to fight."

"Yeah, at least one of us will get to the prisoners and free them," Isaac said as he and Mecha went in one direction while Wes ran into the other. "This isn't going to work, is it?" he then asked, almost sounding sarcastically hopeless while putting on a big sheepish smile.

"Darn, another corridor split," Mecha said as they came across another.

"We'll do the same then, no need to moan about it," Isaac said before they parted ways.

No longer than later after turning around a corner, Mecha came across an opened door and decided to take a quick look into it. It had a number of monitors placed on the wall with a number of controllers underneath. Seeing this room as a security room, he quickly pressed a button, inside the room, next to the door to shut it. He hoped that the grunts would run past the door. Much to his hidden glee, they did as he heard several running footsteps ran past it. "Idiots," he thought to himself.

He quickly walked over to the monitors and observed each one closely. On one monitor he saw Misty imprisoned in a cage, Isaac still being chased shown on another monitor and Wes also being chased… but he was getting close to Misty's prison room. He opened a hatch on his mechanical arm, revealing a bunch of numbered and symbolised buttons, he began pressing them.

At Wes's location, he felt an object vibrating in his jacket pocket. He felt slightly frustrated as he took out his cell phone out and answering it. "I told you before, we're not the deli people," he said.

"Wes, it's me," Mecha's voice said through the phone.

"Mecha? Where are you?" Wes asked in surprise.

"I'm inside the security room of this base. I've found Misty's location. It's not far, it's just straight up ahead. I'll tell you where the other prisoners are when you rescue her."

"I see it… well, it should be obvious."

Wes ran into the direction Mecha had given him. As he got closer to the prison room door, he spotted the lock that needed a swipe card, showing a red light meaning that the door was locked. Before he could say anything, the red light suddenly switched to green and the door slid open, revealing a nervous looking Misty inside her cage, much to Wes's delighted surprise. "I got it open using the security controls," Mecha said. "You probably gonna need a key to open the cage door or better yet use one of your pokemon to break that door down. The rest is up to you, I'll be checking on Isaac."

"Roger. I'm out," Wes said before putting his cell phone away. After he had gotten inside the door quickly closed itself, locking all of the grunts outside.

"Careful, Wes!" Misty cried alarmingly. "It's a trap!"

Suddenly two parts of the ceiling fell to the floor with Wes standing a distance between. He looked both ways while two grunts jumped down from the holes of the ceiling. One of them was a female grunt and the other was male. "Prepare for deep trouble," the woman said.

"Make it an impact of a double," the man said.

"To drown those who oppose against us."

"To wash out those who deny us."

"To increase the depth of the sea."

"To make sure that it's meant to be."

"Genghis."

"Kahn."

"Team Ocean, sailing the seven seas all day and night."

"Surrender to us now or you'll definitely lose this fight."

"You guys remind me of someone," Wes said. Somehow, he expected something like this would happen despite being taken by surprise.

"This is far as you'll go, bud," Kahn said as he took his pokeball, as did his partner. "Now drown out."

Both of them tossed out their pokeballs, releasing one each of their pokemon. Kahn's pokeball opened releasing a Swarmpert, a mudfish like pokemon, while Genghis released her Cloyster, a spiky shellfish pokemon with dark pearl head inside the shell.

"Only one each?" Wes asked smugly as he tossed out two of his. A double battle, where trainers use two pokemon at a time to battle, was his specialty. The balls released a light purpled furred dog with a small red gem on his head, an Espeon, and a black dog with yellow ring patterns on various parts of body, an Umbreon. "Show me what you got."

Back at the Team Molten base…

CLANG!

That was the sound of Bluesky's back hit the wall after receiving combined Headbutt attacks from the enemy Charizards he was facing. He was struggling to fight back at them but the Charizards' strength in numbers caught up with him, not to mention that his friend, Aurora, was motionless after having her head hit on the steel walls.

Metagross, on the other hand, also struggled but it managed to keep his situation under control while facing off against two Arcanines. While the opposition stalked it, it looked at the blue dragon, who had his back against the wall, trying to recover while the Charizards slowly moved in for the kill.

"(Instinct)!" Metagross thought quickly, turning around to see two Arcanines leaping towards him like a horde of Mightyenas. "(Double Body Slam)" it thought before jumping away, making its enemies crashing into the floor instead.

Metagross quickly turned his attention back to its friend, who was still dizzy from the Chariazrds' attack. "(Slash time)," Charizard No.2 growled, showing a nasty smile. Both of them raised their claws, glowing them energetically showing that they were powering up their upcoming attacks. The Salamence shook the dizziness off his head and saw a pair of clawed paws about to slash down on him, having no time to counter the attacks, he closed his eyes tightly, ready to accept the cuts.

BAM!

That wasn't the sound of slicing or dicing. It was the sound of slamming. Puzzled, Bluesky opened his eyes seeing his friends, Metagross, standing in front of him, much to his surprise. He was also the enemy Charizards lying down on the floor, slowly getting to their feet. "(Metagross)..." the Salamence growled.

Metagross looked back towards his friend. "(You're getting a little soft, Bluesky)," he growled.

"(Yeah… I know)," Bluesky growled guiltily in response, looking over to the motionless Aurora. He realised that he became so concerned for her that he lost his concentration, thus momentarily losing the fight.

"(Don't you remember? When a time comes like this, don't think, just act)."

"(Yeah, fight first, worry later… but what do we do from here)?"

Metagross looked back at their opponents. "(We just do what we do best… fight)," it growled while glowing vigorously blue, charging up its attack before zooming towards the Charizards.

"(A little trade, eh)?" the Salamence growled as he looked at the two Arcanines, showing a sly smile. "(Looks like I'll have you two for my target practice)." He took flight, flapping his red wings flying into the air breathing red streams of flames at them.

Both Arcanines stood confidently where they were, despite the attack coming towards. The flame attack connected with them but they showed no pain, not even a small flinch while the flames circled around, much to Bluesky's surprise. "(What the)…?" he growled.

Red energy began surrounding the bodies of the Arcanines, their eyes glowed the same colour. They then fired out gigantic fireballs in forms of Chinese symbols. The Salamence's eyes widened with shock. He had only little time to react. He formed an energy barrier around, attempting to block the attack.

When the two fireballs hit the barrier, Bluesky focused his energy to keep the fireballs away. He put in a lot of strength into his barrier because he had no time to take any damage from two of the strongest Fire attacks. He let out a loud roar, forcing the flaming fireballs to be blasted away from him.

The two Fire Blast attacks came back towards them with great velocity but they managed to out of the way just in time, making the blasts hit the steel floor, causing a huge explosion. The force of the explosion sent everyone flying, hitting into the steel walls making huge dents in them before harshly crashing into the ground. The electric prison was unharmed because of its barriers and so was Aurora because she was at the safe distance when the explosion occurred.

Aurora began to stir from her unconsciousness. One of the badly hurt Arcanines saw her waking up and prepared for his next attack, forming a small ember in his mouth. The Salamence shook away his dizziness and saw that the enemy Arcanine shot out another Flamethrower attack at his friend. No time to waste, he rushed in front of her and formed another barrier around his body stopping the attack in its tracks.

When Aurora fully woke up, she saw Bluesky protecting her using his Protect move, blocking the Fire Blast. He let out a loud roar, powering up the barrier and forcing the blast away into the opposite direction. The blast was sent flying towards the Arcanines at rapid speed but they moved out of the way just in time, making the huge fireball hit the wall, causing another explosion.

While they leapt, one of the Arcanines shot out another Fire Blast. The Barrier Blueksy was using slowly vanished while he collapsed to the floor out of tiredness after sending away a number of strong Fire types on more than one occasion. As he the blast coming for him, threatening to burn him alive, his heart and mind commanded to stand up and continue fighting but his body disobeyed. With now that in mind and heavily breathing in and out, he closed his eyes tightly, awaiting his fate.

KABOOM!

Bluesky heard an explosion. It wasn't an explosion impacting on him. He opened his eyes and saw Aurora standing in front of him, with a barrier around her. "(Bluesky)," she cooed softly. "(Thank you)."

Seeing his friend alive and well in front of him, Bluesky felt that he regained his strength as he stood on all fours before walking up next to her. "(No problem)," he growled with a smile.

Back at the Team Ocean base, Wes, with his Umbreon and Espeon, was battling against a team of Genghis and Kahn, who were controlling Swashbuckler the Swarmpert and Shellshock the Cloyster.

"Espeon! Use your Zap Cannon on that Cloyster!" Wes ordered, poiting at the opposition. Espeon did as he was commanded, he glowed the gem on his forehead red before blasting a large electric ball out of it.

"Swashbuckler! Protect Shellshock!" Kahn ordered.

"I don't think so," Wes said smugly, knowing that Swarmperts are invincible against electric type attacks. "Umbreon! Use your Psychic!"

Umbreon's eyes glowed with blue energy surrounding him. He focused his eyes on the Swarmpert, who attempted to run to protect his partner upon his trainers command but blue began surrounding as he was put to a halt.

"Shellshock! Dodge that Zap Cannon and Tackle that Umbreon!" Genghis commanded.

At the last second, Shellshock dodged out of the harm's way, making the electric attack hit the wall, breaking a hole into it. That didn't stop anything, let alone Shellshock. With his shell closed tightly, he zoomed towards the black dog, who was still focused on Swashbuckler.

"Espeon! Iron Tail!" Wes yelled.

Espeon leapt and powered his tail vigorously, aiming his upcoming attack at the shelled pokemon. He swung his tail, slamming it onto Shellshock's hard shell. Despite that was a direct hit, it didn't have any affect, much to Wes's and Espeon's surprise.

Soon, it was Umbreon's when Shellshock knocked him with a great force. The knockdown knocked away his focus on the Swarmpert, who was now able to move. "Swashbuckler, aim your Mega Punch on that Espeon!" Kahn shouted.

The Swarmpert charged up his powers into his clenched paw. He ran towards Espeon, aiming his attack at the purpled furred creature. "Quick! Counter with your Quick Attack!" Wes commanded. "Get him in the leg!"

Espeon, with great speed, dashed towards the Swashbuckler hitting him in the knee. The Swarmpert tripped over his opponent, and inadvertently hit the lock of Misty's cell, making a dent.

"Hey…" Wes said, noticing the damage done to the cell door.

Meanwhile, Isaac, with communicating device in hand, found himself at a dead end with nowhere to run, let alone hide. The grunts were closing in for the kill, each with a pokeball or a knife. Despite the difficult situation, he was smiling a cheeky smile. "Kaboom?" he said quietly into the device.

"Yes, Isaac," Mecha said confidently, speaking through his communicating device. "Kaboom."

Isaac placed away the communicating device into his pocket and took out two pokeballs. "Smokey! Heracross! Go!" he shouted, throwing them out. The balls opened, releasing a small ball that appears to have the same colour as a pokeball, except that it had eyes and a large, dark blue, beetle bug with a horn on his head.

"Voltorb!" the small ball buzzed.

Recognising what kind of species it was, all the grunts became frightened. "No! Anything but that!" they yelled fearfully.

"Voltorb?" the small ball buzzed turning towards its trainer.

"Not yet, Smokey," Isaac said, seeing the grunts running away. "Heracross, pick up Smokey and throw him as hard as you can, in front of those bad guys."

The bug picked up the Voltorb. ""You can kaboom when you land, Smokey," Isaac said to the ball pokemon.

"Voltorb! Voltorb!" Smokey buzzed excitedly, which meant 'Kaboom! Kaboom!'

With all his strength, Heracross hurled Smokey across the corridor over all of the grunts' heads. They didn't notice it until it fell in front of them, much to their dismay. "How did you get here?" one of the grunts in the front yelled frighteningly.

Outside the base, a huge thunderous explosion occurred from the inside.

Back at Wes's location, everyone in the room lost their balance and toppled down to the floor. "What was that?" Kahn yelled in shock, as he stood right back up.

"It can't be anything good!" Genghis replied.

"Oh… but it is good… for us," Wes said with a confident smirk on his face. His pokemon were also showing off their smirks. "It seems but my buddies have just finished off yours."

"Don't bet on it," Kahn said gnarling his teeth. "Swashbuckler! Earthquake!"

The Swarmpert rose his arms as high as he could. "Get ready, you two!" Wes warned. His pokemon obeyed as they crouched down. With all his might, the Swarmpet went to slam his paws on the ground. "Jump!" Wes yelled.

His pokemon did as they were told as they leapt into the air, split seconds before Swasbuckler slammed his fists on the ground causing the floor to shake violently. With the exception of Swashbuckler, Umbreon and Espeon, everyone fell to the floor. Wes was the first to quickly recover from the fall he suffered. "Espeon! use your Psybeam on Swarmpert!" he yelled.

While still in the air, Espeon's gem glowed energetically again before he shot a multicoloured beam out of it, hitting it directly on top of Swashbuckler's head. Swashbuckler yelled out a painful roar after getting attacked in the head. Both Umbreon and Espeon landed on their feet. "Shellshock!" Genghis yelled pointing at one of Wes's pokemon. "Tackle!"

The Cloyster, with his shell closed, zoomed towards one of his enemies… until he stopped by a massive blue paw, which everyone recognised. "Swashbuckler! What are you doing!?" Kahn yelled disapprovingly, seeing his pokemon grabbing his partner's.

"Dang it! He's confused!" Genghis yelled angrily.

In confusion and madness, Swashbuckler roared while he lifted Shellshock over his head and then tossed him towards his human partners, knocking them down. "I got an idea, guys. I just hope Mecha's following," Wes said as he ran over to the cage. When he got to the cage door, he attempted to distract him. "Hey! Dope head!" he yelled, waving his arms to get his attention. "Your mum's a Magikarp!"

Swarmpert turned his attention to Wes and slowly walked towards him. Misty became startled of what was going. "Wes, what are you doing?" she said. Umbreon and Espeon were also concerned of what their trainer was doing.

"I got this in the bag. Don't worry, Misty," Wes said reassuringly. Swashbuckler let out another roar as he raised his arms to slam them down on him. Wes quickly moved out of the way, making the Swarmpert miss him by an inch as he slammed his clenched paws on the cage door, damaging it even more after the first damage he made. Despite that, the mud fish pokemon was still in his confused state as he continued smashing the door down with his strength.

"I get it now," Misty said, realising Wes's plan. Because Wes didn't have the key, he made the Swarmepert breakdown the cage door and then he would attack him when he completes breaking the door down.

"How Shellshock, Genghis?" Kahn asked, struggling to get up, momentarily dazed.

"Knocked out," Genghis snarled in reply seeing unconsciousness on the Cloyster's face. She returned him into her pokeball.

"Gasmask, Genghis," Kahn said after he placed his on his face. While Genghis did the same he pulled out a can with a ring connected to it. He pulled the ring out and tossed to it to the floor. He then quickly zapped the confused Swarmpert back into his pokeball while a green mist began spraying out of the can.

"Poison gas!?" Wes said annoyingly. "Give me a break! Just when I was winning!" He took out two of his pokeballs and zapped his Umbreon and Espeon, who were also surprised of the underhanded trick and Wes's upcoming sacrifice, back into their pokeballs. "Misty! Hold your breath!" he told her warningly.

Still locked in her cage, Misty covered her mouth and nose while shutting her eyes tightly upon Wes's command. Wes covered his mouth while he looked for the room's exit through the poisonous fog. There wasn't any. He ran to the door where he first entered and repeatedly slammed his fist on the steel door while Genghis and Kahn looked at him slyly.

Wes kept on calling for help while kept on slamming the door. The affect of the poisonous gas was making him lose unconsciousness with his mind spinning and his stomach turning. When all seemed hopeless, the steel door slid open… forcefully. On the verge of losing his senses, Wes shook his head, shaking away the dizziness. When his eyes stopped being blurry, he looked up and saw a Rhydon… and not just any Rhydon.

"Mecha," Wes said breathlessly, collapsing on the Rhydon's chest, breathing heavily but quickly while blinking numerous times.

"I saw the smoke. I came as quickly as I could," Mecha said. He quickly walked in and saw the can lying on the floor, still spraying out the gas.

"What in the world…?" both Kahn and Genghis said in shock, seeing the robotic arm on Mecha. Mecha quickly grabbed the can and tossed it out. Wes took advantage of the distraction; he ran and leapt towards them, kicking them in their faces, both with a great impact.

While they were knocked down, Mecha quickly turned around and grabbed the cage door. With all his strength, he yanked it right off the bars, freeing Misty from her imprisonment. She was sweating some large beads and breathing heavily after having to suffer from the effects of the gas despite holding her breath.

"Are you okay, Misty?" Mecha asked.

Misty quickly stood straight up and hurried towards him. "Where's Ash!? That idiot!" she yelled angrily.

"It wasn't Ash's idea to send us here," Mecha replied calmly yet nervously. "Black Jack said it would be best if Ash battled alongside the other guys against the leaders of both Team Ocean and Molten. Ash wasn't thinking straight because of your capture. He was so worried sick that he couldn't eat or sleep. He was angry too so there might've been a chance that his anger could ruin everything."

Surprised came into the heart of Misty. Worry. Anger. Unable to eat or sleep. Black Jack's idea. Those words went into her mind as she looked down with a saddened face and heart. She then looked back at Mecha with a determined smile. "I'll thank them later. Right now, we got the other guys to rescue," she said.

Returning to the battle scene at Team Molten's base, Metagross, Bluesky and Aurora were standing distances away from their opponents, the Arcanines and Charizards. All of them were heavily breathing because of the fatigue and the pain they all suffered during their battle. Despite the strength in numbers for Chraizards and Arcanines, being a four-on-three battle, the opposition were still in it because of their toughness, guts and heart.

"(Can't you… just… stay down)?" Arcanine B growled in a frustrated way, catching his breath between words.

"(What makes you think we're going to do that)?" Metagorss growled weakly.

"(You guys aren't bad, but with the lives of Aurora's tribe at stake, we're not backing down)," Bluesky growled.

Aurora lowered her head in tiredness, breathing in and out, gasping for air. It appeared as though she was on the verge of giving up. Her mind and heart was telling her not to give in but her entire body told her different for she had been bruised and battered throughout the entire battle. She looked over to her friends and family placed inside the electric prison, screaming and crying to be free. She then looked at the battle at hand; on the enemy's side, there were two Arcanines and two Charizards, fighting for the team's dominance around the world. While on her side there was Metagross and Bluesky, fighting to save the lives of other, which to their trainer's view was somewhat inadvertent but they enjoy a good fight but she knew that there were reasons than that.

With the high desire and need to rescue her tribe, she felt the adrenaline flowing around her body making her ignore all the pain she suffered. Then suddenly, she started glowing white, much to everyone's surprise. She was growing bigger in width, two wings grew out of her back, along with her arms and legs but from different parts of her body.

"(Bluesky… she's evolving)," Metagross growled.

Bluesky nodded agreeing with him, wondering how Aurora would look after her evolution.

After Aurora stopped evolving, her skin changed from the beautiful ocean blue to a sun-like orange, still beautiful with her blue wings and white chest. Despite her appearance, the opposition didn't care. "(You evolved! So what)?" Charizard No.2 growled bitterly. "(We're still going to beat you so badly that a magazine will headline you the most ugliest Dragonite! Let's get them, boys, while they're still wiped out)!"

With their remaining strengths left, the fire type pokemon rushed towards them. "(They've underestimated her)," Metagross growled.

Suddenly, an orange blur zoomed past them, slamming into the bodies of the fire type creatures knocking them down while one of the Charizards dodged the attack by quickly flying high into the air. He looked down with flames emerging slowly inside his mouth, ready to shoot his flamethrower attack at Bluesky and Metagross but they were no longer standing in their spot, much to his surprise. "(Hey, where did they go)!?" he thought to himself.

He confusedly looked up in front of him, seeing some glowing claws coming down on his face. With a vicious blow, the claws of Bluesky struck him across his face, sending him flying into Metagross's hard steel body with a thunderous thud. Charizard No.3 yelled in pain but Metagross was unfazed. Passed out, the flying lizard fell, threatening to fall on top of Aurora and his fire type comrades.

Aurora and Charizard No.2 got out of the way, making Charizard No.3 fall on top of the bodies of the Arcanines. After feeling the impact of the fallen lizard, the Arcanines became unconscious.

Charizard No.2, the only battling fire creature remaining in this battle, was on his paws and legs breathing in and out, trying to think of another plan. Soon, he spotted a green clawed foot on the ground. He slowly looked up, seeing the lower body, the upper body and then finally the face, all in a form of a green mean looking dinosaur. "(Oh crud)," Charizard No.2 growled, recognising what type of monster it was. "(Tyranitar)."

Tyranitar quickly grabbed him by the upper part face with one clawed paw before lifting him up. While held him up in the air, he was squeezing him by the held cranium, digging his claws into his skin to cause a great deal of damage while stopping the blood flowing around inside his head.

Charizard No.2 was shaking and struggling to get Tyranitar to break the hold. The green one sighed out of boredom, still waiting for the Charizard to become unconscious. Suddenly getting impatient, he violently, with massive velocity, slammed his head on the steel floor, knocking him unconscious. The impact was like of two trucks slamming into each other.

"(Well)," Tyranitar growled while his friends arrived on the scene. "(Looks like we're done with those goofballs)."

They looked at Bluesky and Metagross, both who appeared to be badly beaten. "(You let them beat you guys)?" Nidoking yelled in disbelief. "(We were manhandling them last time)."

Metagross glared at the Salamence, while he turned away out of guilt. "(We… got distracted at times. I mean four-on-one)…" Bluesky growled.

"(We)?" Metagross growled, feeling somewhat annoyed.

"(Aurora, you evolved)," Chan growled noticeably to the elegant dragon. "(Congratulations)."

"(Well, I had to do something)," Aurora cooed, eyes focused on Salamence who was being picked on by his friends.

"(Calm down, guys)," Tyranitar growled. "(We got dragons to free)."

"(Yeah, that's an electric barrier, right)?" Nidoking growled. "(I'm a ground type, meaning that no stupid zap can harm me)!"

"(Yeah)," Tyranitar growled. "(But Nido)…"

"(Cha-a-a-a-arge)!" Nidoking roared before zooming towards the barrier.

"(And he ignores)…" Tyranitar growled dully.

The purple monster slammed his body onto the barrier, in an attempt to penetrate the shield that was imprisoning the dragons who were yelling out their cries to be free. After some time struggling, the barrier shot Nidoking out with a great force that sent him skidding upon landing on his back. He quickly sat up, unscathed but he was surprised by the power of the barrier.

Chan spotted a number of gadgets, in shapes of cubes, circling around the dragons, lying on the floor where the electric barrier was being generated from. "(There's got to be a switch somewhere)," he growled before touching one of them. Upon touching it, he felt a small electric shock and yelled out in pain, quickly withdrawing his paw.

He shook his hand to shake away the shock he just felt. He looked and counted each gadget on the floor. There were seven of them. "(Guys, I got an idea)," he growled.

After telling his plan to his partners, including Aurora, they stepped in front of their respective targets, the cubicle gadgets that were creating the electric barrier. They looked down on them with determined looks on their faces, hoping that the plan would work without them getting any shocks. Each pokemon, outside the barrier, lifted their foot up. "(Ready)?" the Blaziken growled.

Everyone nodded, including the imprisoned pokemon. They too hoped that the plan would work.

"(Now)!" he roared. With their own roars, everyone slammed their foot down on the electronic devices, smashing them to pieces. The electric shield vanished, much to everyone's delight. They all rushed towards Aurora, gathering around her in an embrace.

Bluesky looked on with a smile while Aurora was rejoicing with her friends and family. He felt so happy for the pokemon he cared for, yet he felt a bit of sadness when he thought about a number of possible outcomes such as seeing his friend who he haven't seen after so long has to go away to find another secretive and peaceful place.

Suddenly, he felt a strong arm wrapping around his head, giving a small playful squeeze. "(Don't get saddy now, buddyboy)!" Feraligatr growled in delight. "(We got the other battle place to go to)."

"(Yeah, let's literally blow this place)!" Nidoking growled happily while rubbing his knuckles on the Salamance's head.

After he looked at his friends, who were smiling towards him, he lowered his head, still holding his smile. "(Yeah, we do)," he growled sombrely, knowing that there more important things to do than to what he had in mind.

Meanwhile, back at the beach near the Team Ocean base, a couple of Team Ocean grunts were laying the sandy ground motionlessly after receiving some heavy beats. The scared Plusle and Stevens backed away from the angry Rui while she held a large pink mallet with '100 tons' marked on it. She was breathing heavily after hitting the grunts with her almighty weapon. "No… one… messes… up… my daydream… about Wes!" she shouted angrily, panting between words.

Stevens looked towards the sea, seeing the smoke emitting from the Team Ocean base. He also saw a number of trainers swimming towards the shore. "Excellent," he said with a smile. "I hope things are going well with Black Jack and the others."  
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More coming! Reviews please!


	27. Episode 7, Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Back at Black Jack's location, the combination of Team Molten and Ocean were at a disadvantage with two pokemon left while Ash's team still had five members being able to battle against them. But judging by the appearance and presence of the two pokemon Ross and Maxwell summoned, things were about to get more challenging for Ash and his comrades despite their strength in numbers.

The creature that Ross had summoned up was huge four-legged beast. It had a blue and white fur with a purple cloud-like mane and white patterns on parts of its body. Its appearance was mostly elegant to many. Maxwell had summoned a red bird with flames engulfing on its wings and the rest of its body. The alliance was confident that they would defeat their enemies in order to do what they want with no interference.

They were a distance away from their opponents, Pyro the Typhlosion, Jacky the Hitmonlee, Darkness the Dragonite, Tattoo the Medicham with a steel chair in his paws and Pikachu. They too were battling alongside their human partners and friends Ash, Alice, Keith, and Jerry with their friends standing by the sidelines supporting them. They had high hopes to defeat the opposition to free the hostages.

Standing between them was one of the most sadistic humans to train his pokemon, Black Jack. He volunteered to be the referee knowing that no one, but no one, would have the guts to confront or mess with him. Despite having Team Molten and Ocean as his enemies, he made a promise that if they win he will allow them to do whatever they please. He looked at both sides as they stood their distances, ready to attack… with a couple of exceptions.

"Suicune… and Moltres," Ash said as he angrily gnarled his teeth and shook his clenched fist. "This must be why Ross and Maxwell never wanted to release them while we were beating the others. They were saving their energies while we were weakening. Why would they allow those two jerks to get them?"

"They can answer that," Jerry said as he took a pokedex out of his pocket as he surprised by their appearances. "I found these guys in books and I know that Suicune's known as the legendary North Wind and Moltres is the protector of fire in the Orange Islands. Still, I wanna check if they're for real."

Spotting the gadget Jerry was taking out, Ross pointed at him. "Use your Water Gun, Suicune!" he ordered. "At that blond wannabe."

Suicune quickly shot a gigantic spray of water out of its mouth. Despite the projectile's great velocity, the battling pokemon managed to jump out of the way in time, as did the humans, hitting one of the rocks behind them and smashing it to pieces. "That was close!" Max said in shock. "That looked more like a Hydro Pump than a Water Gun!"

"But it missed them!" Tracey said.

"She was aiming at me!" Jerry cried fearfully. "Probably doesn't like to be pointed at or talked about."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that, Jerry," Ash said suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" Jerry asked.

"You'll see soon enough."

Black Jack looked at his enemies' side, also with a suspicious mind. His train of thoughts was interrupted when he sensed a metal object was flying towards him yet he made no move. The chair flew past him and towards Suicune, courtesy of the suicidal Medicham.

"Suicune, counter with your Ice Beam," Ross ordered with confidence.

Suicune obeyed as she opened her mouth. A blue energy ball formed inside it, powering up her attack until it was strong enough for her to blast out a huge beam of ice at the chair, stopping the flying chair in its tracks while totally covering it in ice, making it fall harshly to the ground.

"Ice Beam again," Ross commanded confidently.

"Moltres, take flight and use your Flamethrower," Maxwell ordered, also being confident.

Suicune shot out another blue icy beam while Moltres flapped his fiery wings, flying off into the sky before blasting out a stream of flame out of his beak.

"Dodge!" all of their opponents yelled.

Their pokemon did as they were commanded as they simultaneously dodged the attack, barely, making the attack hitting ground causing a huge explosion. The force of the explosion not only knocked down the battling pokemon on Alice's side but a bunch of sand came flying from the sandy ground after the hit and on top of them. They covered their eyes to avoid getting blinded by the small grains, as did their human friends.

Afterwards, Tattoo quickly dashed towards one of his opponents, grabbing the ice covered steel chair in the process, with deep desire to smash it over anyone's head. This time, he tossed his weapon towards Moltres's head but missed as Moltres moved out of the way, making the chair fell and crashed on the ground.

Not caring whether it hit the flaming bird or not, he now focused his concentration on the serene beast. He attempted to do his Hi jump Kick attack as he leapt into the air and then aimed his foot at Suicune, diving in her direction. Upon her master's command to use Headbutt, Suicune also leapt into the air, dodging the Medicham's attack and slamming her head on his gut with a great force, sending him flying.

Tattoo felt a great deal of pain in his gut when he was sent airborne. With his eyes closed, he expected to harshly crash onto the ground but only felt a furry arm wrapped around him, stopping him from falling. He opened his eyes and found himself caught by Pyro, Alice's Typhlosion. "Great catch, Pyro!" Alice cried while the other pokemon ran towards the enemy.

"(You can't do this alone, pal)," the Typhlosion growled as he released him before running towards

Tattoo looked up, seeing Darkness, the only pokemon flying, going up against Moltres. He looked back at both Alice and Keith, and pointed at the airborne pokemon. They both nodded, understanding and agreeing to Tattoo's plan. "Go for it," Keith said.

"Pyro!" she yelled to her pokemon while Tattoo ran towards him. "Throw Tattoo over to Darkness!"

The Typhlosion looked up towards Darkness flying towards Moltres. With hope and determination, he looked down, grabbed Tattoo and tossed as hard as he could in the air.

"Darkness! Get ready to catch Tattoo! " Keith called towards his black Dragonite.

Darkness looked down at Tattoo being launched into the air. Seeing that the Medicham had a plan in mind, he swooped down in order to catch him.

"Moltres, use your Flamethrower on that pitiful dragon," Maxwell ordered relaxingly.

The fire covered bird obeyed as he opened his beak, forming a fireball inside before blasting a huge lick of flame aiming at Darkness. "Darkness! Look out!" Keith yelled warningly with shock.

Darkness turned towards the fiery attack, and immediately yet barely moved out of the way. "Tattoo!" Keith yelled. "He's falling!"

Darkness looked around and quickly spotted him falling towards the ground. Knowing how much damage the ground could do after falling a great he zoomed in his direction.

"So much fun," Maxwell said. "Moltres, use your Flamethrower again."

Moltres shot out another blast of flame at Darkness. "Keep your eye on Tattoo," Keith commanded. Obeying and trusting his human friend and trainer he kept his eyes on the scarred Medicham, while Keith kept his eye on the incoming blaze. "Fly to your right!" he yelled as he saw the attack coming towards the Dragonite's left wing from above.

At the last second, Darkness moved to his right while still keeping his focus on his falling partner while diving towards him at the speed of a shot out cannonball, narrowly missing the blazing scorch. He successfully grabbed Tattoo and held him against his chest.

"Good work, Darkness!" Keith yelled while everyone sighed with relief.

"Keith, I think the Team Molten leader was playing with ya," Jerry said noticeably.

"He'll regret that by wasting Moltres's energy," Keith said. "You should keep your focus on your part of the battle."

"I got no problem with dat," Jerry said as he looked back. "Look how many guys we got here."

"Don't get so overconfident, Jerry," Ash said bitterly. "Suicune's more than just some everyday pokemon you see in forests."

They looked at Suicune, Ross's water beast, being surrounded by their pokemon, Pyro, Jacky and Pikachu. The three pokemon stalked and slowly walked around her while Ross waited for them to attack. "There's no use stalling," Ross said smugly. "Afraid of what this beast can do?"

"Pikachu!" Ash yelled. "Use your…"

"Wait a sec, Ash," Jerry said suddenly. "I'll go first. Let me try to find the weak spot at least. After all, I'm not the best trainer ever."

Alice and Ash turned their attention to their friend, upset. "Jerry…" Alice said worriedly. "Are you…?

"Don't degrade yourself like that, Jerry," Ash said. "I've won a couple of championships but that doesn't mean I'm the best trainer either. I still got a lot of things to learn too, you know."

Jerry looked down, understanding what Ash meant. "Still, I don't know if I'm going to get knocked out of this battle… but at least le me try to do something. Jacky! Use your Mega Punch attack!"

Jacky ran towards the blue beast, aiming his clenched fist towards her face. "Jerry!" Alice cried. "Don't attack straight on!"

"Suicune, use your Water Gun," Ross ordered.

"Jacky! Slide down! Change the attack into a sliding Low Kick!" Jerry yelled.

Suicune quickly blasted out a huge jet of water out of her mouth but Jacky quickly slid down to the ground, aiming his strong feet towards one of his opponent's forelegs. "Got 'em!" Jerry said triumphantly.

But Suicune saw it coming and lifted up her left foreleg, much to Jacky's and Jerry's surprise, and slammed it on the Hitmonlee's gut when he slid under it, knocking some air out of his body. "Ice Beam, Suicune," Ross said.

"Jacky's in trouble!" Alice cried when she saw Suicune forming a ball of energy in her opened mouth, aiming down on the helpless fighter. "We got to help!"

"Pikachu! Thunderbolt attack!" Ash commanded, pointing at the opposition.

"Let's go, Pyro!" Alice yelled. "Mega Punch!"

The electric rodent ran towards them and leapt into the air before yelling out his battle cry, releasing a powerful stream of electricity towards the beast while the fiery monster ran towards Suicune.

"Suicune, Mirror Coat against that Thunderbolt," Ross ordered, still confident in himself and his pokemon. "It's coming from your right."

The majestic looking Suicune quickly withdrew her Ice Beam attack and looked at the direction of the attack and her eyes glowed energetically while a barrier formed around her. The bolt struck the barrier but the defence move deflected the move as it bounced back towards Pikachu, who quickly moved out of the way. "Now use Ice Beam," Ross said.

Suicune's eyes stopped glowing while the barrier slowly disappeared simultaneously. She quickly shot out her Ice Beam attack but the Typhlosion ducked underneath and his tightly clenched paw viciously slammed her face from underneath, knocking her upwards and off Jacky's stomach, much to Ross's shock.

Jacky leapt up to his feet, ready to fight with Pyro and Pikachu standing beside him. "Looks like we done some big damage," Jerry said smugly.

Suicune's back was turned away after being given a hefty punch to the face. She slowly turned around, showing that she was unfazed, let alone hurt or bruised. "No way!" Alice said in shock. "But… that Mega Punch."

Ross let out a small titter. "I may have underestimated you," he said. "But as you can see, it takes more than just your pitiful punch to stop my Suicune."

"Huh, no matter what it takes, or what your plan is, I know one thing about YOUR Suicune, Ross," Ash said loudly. "That's why I'm going to go all out."

"Darn right!" Jerry yelled, agreeing with Ash. "We're gonna knock the taste out of their arrogant mouths!"

Kenzo, one of the trainers who was eliminated courtesy of Pikachu's Thunderbolt, was confused about Ash's statement. "Ross's Suicune?" he said. "What is he on about?"

"I think he may be onto something, monsieur Kenzo," Pierre said. Despite also being eliminated, he still remained in his calm state. "I also think that monsieur Ross is hiding something about Suicune."

While they discussed, Ruth of Team Ocean couldn't help but glare nastily at the opposing team after her defeat. "Those people and their pokemon… they have no guts… nothing but cowards," she grumbled angrily before looking up at the airborne pokemon and Tattoo battling in the air.

Both Keith's Dragonite, Darkness, and Maxwell's Moltres were blasting out their Dragonbreaths and Flamethrowers while avoiding each other's attacks upon their trainers' commands with Tattoo holding on to Darkness's back. Tattoo's eyes focussed on Moltres as he thought up a plan to help beat the flaming bird.

Soon, he found himself at a distance when Darkness flew above Moltres. He jumped on his partner's head and then leapt off, falling down about fifteen feet before safely landing on top of Moltres's back, much to surprise of everyone, especially Keith and Maxwell.

"What's this?" Maxwell asked bewilderedly.

"What is he, Ariados-man?" Keith said also confused with surprised.

The suicidal Medicham began pummelling on the enemy's back with his bare paws, attempting to put a hurting on him, or at least distract him but Moltres wasn't feeling any affect. "Moltres, shake him off!" Maxwell ordered gruffly.

As he was told to do, Moltres frantically tried to shake him off but Tattoo wrapped his arms tightly around the bird's neck, hanging on for dear life and attempted to choke the air out of him. Almost everyone on Keith's side looked on in fear for the sacrificing Tattoo. "Keith," Black Jack murmured to himself, noticing what he was attempting to do. "It's now or never."

"Keith," Tracey said worriedly. "You're not going to…"

"It's going to a waste if I don't," Keith said determinedly, knowing what kind of damage it would have on his partner yet he had no choice. "Darkness! Hyper Beam attack! Full power!"

Darkness also knew the dangers of using this move when his team mate was holding onto the enemy. Seeing no other way, he glowed vigorously, charging up his powers. It took a long moment until he was at full power. He blasted a huge energy beam out of mouth, aiming towards Moltres.

"Moltres," Maxwell shouted. "Dodge the beam."

Moltes quickly turned his attention to the attack heading his way at blinding speed. "No way he's going to dodge that in time," Keith said with confidence.

Suddenly, Moltres barely moved out of the way, much to the astonishment of everyone standing in this battlefield, spectator and battler alike but with the exception of a few people.

Referee Black Jack was one of them. "I know there's something weird about that Moltres," he thought to himself. "A lot of the time, people and pokemon would lose focus when being choked. And legendary pokemon are no exception."

"No way!" Keith yelled in disbelief after seeing the attack missing its target.

"But… Moltres was being choked!" Christie yelled.

"Something's wrong here," Brock said suspiciously.

"I agree," Oak said. "With the speed of that Hyper Beam and being distracted by that choke hold, there was no way Moltres would be able to dodge that."

In the air, Darkness was also in disbelief after seeing his energy beam missing Moltres. He was also low in energy and tired after blasting out his most powerful attack as he heavily breathed in and out, while flapping his wings keeping himself in the air.

Tattoo still maintained locking onto the neck, still attempting to choke the air, and if possible life, out of the legendary firebird while Moltres was still trying to shake him off. "Now, Moltres," Maxwell commanded. "While that Dragonite is weakened, use your Flamethrower."

"No way that's possible," Black Jack thought, knowing that most fire types would breath fire from their stomachs, which needs to go through the throat before coming out of the mouth or, in Moltres's case, beak.

But to more of his suspicion, a ball of energy formed inside Moltres's beak, almost ready to shoot Darkness with it.

"Gah!" Keith grunted. "Darkness, try to get out of the way!"

Knowing what was going to happen, Tattoo quickly released his grip and began to leap onto the bird's head. "What is he doing?" Keith asked himself.

"Don't tell me…" Black Jack mumbled with narrowed eyes.

"Fire!" Maxwell ordered quickly, just before Tattoo leapt off Moltres's head.

"He's committing suicide!" Black Jack yelled noticeably after seeing what he saw; Tattoo, in a nick of time to save Darkness, got in front of Moltres before getting hit and burned by the flame attack the flaming bird blasted.

That caused an explosion upon impact on Tattoo's body, in front Moltres's face, much to the shock of those fighting with Alice. The suicidal Medicham fell from the smoke, unable to move after taking a direct and hefty hit from the legendary bird. "Tattoo's in trouble!" Keith yelled. "Darkness! Help him!"

Darkness quickly swooped down and successfully caught his comrade, seconds before he was about hit the ground, much to everyone's relief. He slowly laid him on the ground while Black Jack walked over to Tattoo and checked on him. He lifted up his wrist to see if he could feel his pulse.

Somewhat normal.

Black Jack checked on his heart, placing his hand on his chest.

Beating slowly. Normal.

Black Jack checked on his breathing, holding his hand near his mouth.

Breathing small breaths. Normal.

"Tattoo, can you hiss for me?" Black Jack asked.

No response. This meant that he was unconscious. "Tattoo's unable to battle," Black Jack announced. "He's eliminated."

He lifted Tattoo up, hoisting him onto his shoulder before walking off the battlefield. "Get on with it," he ordered as he continued walking while Darkness looked on.

"Darkness, behind you!" Keith warned towards his Dragonite.

Darkness quickly turned around, seeing a huge blue energy blast coming his way at high speed. "Fly away now!" Keith yelled.

His Dragonite quickly flapped his wings to take off but it was too late. The beam connected, hitting him in one of his wings, freezing it completely. Keith snarled a small curse after finding that Suicune was the one blasting out her Ice Beam attack after knocking down three of her opponents when they were distracted by the explosion. "That was a cheap shot, Ross!" he yelled angrily.

"I don't get the reason why you left to team up with Black Jack… the guy who is so gutless that he backed out of this match so he could be the referee," Ross said back while Black Jack placed Tattoo down. "It doesn't matter. Because we're gonna knock all your pokemon out so bad that he will have no choice but to make you all lose out."

Black Jack looked at his direction sternly. "I chose to be the referee because no one, let alone you, have the balls to yell at me. Ruth is stupid enough to go against me," he said.

Ruth growled and her eyes showed anger when he mentioned that.

"I don't intend to lift a finger unless you make me do it," Black Jack continued. "Because the guys on Ash's team are more than a match to you. Now get on with it!"

"With pleasure," Maxwell said with a sly smirk on his face. "Moltres, use your Hyper Beam!"

"Fly away now, Darkness!" Keith yelled in desperation.

Unfortunately, his pokemon wasn't able to. As much as he struggled, his frozen wing was completely stiff, making him unable to fly. His team mates tried to help him but Suicune held them back while hurting them with her constant projectile attacks. "(Damn)!" Darkness growled, cursing his bad luck while looking back at the Hyper Beam, coming straight towards him.

An explosion occurred upon the thunderous impact, much to the delight of the leaders of Team Moten and Ocean. Keith shut his eyes close in shame and disappointment, knowing what the outcome would be. He opened his eyes while the smoke cleared, now seeing Jacky, now appeared to have bruises all over his body, arms and all, much to everyone's shock.

"Jerry…" Alice said in shock. "How did Jacky…?"

"I knew Jacky would come and help Darkness out!" Jerry said. "Better than that, he withstood that Hyper Beam!"

Jacky laughed triumphantly pointing at the opposition. "(I, Jacky the great Hitmonlee),"he yelled. "Trained by the master of all masters, Chan the invincible Blaziken, has endured your most powerful attack! In return, I will…)"

He stopped before he could say another word for a brief moment. He suddenly collapsed to the floor face first. "Jacky's unable to battle," Black Jack announced with a dull face, pointing at the knocked out pokemon. Despite that Jacky was unconscious, he was slightly twitching.

"Oh man!" Jerry said, returning Jacky back into his pokeball. "You did your best, bud." He made his pokeball small before placing back in his pocket. "Get'm guys! Show them what you're made of!"

"Jacky and Jerry sacrificed themselves to save us," Keith thought in amazement as he looked at the blond underdog. "He knows that Darkness is injured but he has faith in me and him. I'm not gonna let that sacrifice be in vain."

"Pyro! Thunderpunch!" Alice commanded pointing at Suicune.

The flaming monster powered up his clenched paws with electric powers, and tried to slam them onto the blue beast but to no avail as Suicune kept on dodging them.

"Pikachu! Thunderbolt her!" Ash ordered.

Pikachu yelled out his battle cries, blasting out electric bolts towards the same enemy but they were also being missed.

"Moltres, shoot out your Flamethrowers on that pitiful dragon!" Maxwell ordered.

"Dodge them, Darkness! Run and tackle down that Suicune!" Keith yelled knowing that his dark Dragonite will be unable to fly momentarily until the ice melts.

The firebird blasted out a large number of flame attacks, aiming towards Darkness but they hit nothing but the ground, causing big explosions upon impact while Darkness dodged each one. He kept on running in Suicune's direction.

"Thanks, guys," Keith thought to himself when Pyro and Pikachu led Suicune to jump in front of one of the rocks. "Now, Darkness! Slam her!"

"(Got her in the ropes)," Darkness growled as he, the black Dragonite, aimed his body in Suicune's direction, attempting to slam her into the rocks after she got distracted by the electric attacks.

She quickly looked at Darkness coming her way. With just millimetres away, she dodged the attack by quickly jumping into the air upon her master's command making him inadvertently crash into the rocks. They crumbled into a large heap all over his body.

"Now's our chance, Pikachu!" Ash yelled. "Thunderbolt!"

"Flamethrower, Pyro!"

Both of their pokemon shot out respective attacks, attempting to blast and defeat her once and for all. The attacks collided on impact causing a big explosion. Ash and his team were confident that Suicune was knocked out. As much as they hated to hurt a pokemon so badly, they had no choice but to do so.

"Hey, wait a minute," Ash said, sensing that something was wrong.

A huge energy beam came shooting out of the smoke, heading towards one of the heroes' pokemon at blinding speed, with no pokemon able to protect each other at this point. "Darkness! Look out!" Alice yelled fearfully.

But Darkness, feeling rather weak and hurt after getting damaged he received in this battle, was struggling to get himself out of the rubble. He slowly turned his head around after hearing what Alice cried out, and what he saw next was a huge energy beam coming his way.

The beam clashed on him with raw force, causing another explosion and Darkness to scream in pain. Everyone covered their eyes to avoid getting the dust and dirt in their eyes while Maxwell and Ross looked on with smirks on their faces. While the dust cleared, everyone looked back on the battlefield with Darkness lying unconsciously on impacted ground where the Hyper Beam hit.

"Keith... Darkness..." Alice said worriedly.

"Damn," Ash muttered, not happy with the outcome of the attack while Suicune landed on her feet.

Keith gnarled his teeth as he glared angrily at Ross, his former boss, while returning Darkness back into his pokeball. "You did your best, pal," he said to the pokeball.

"Darn!" Max yelled in shock. "We took out three of their guys when it was five against three. But now after those leader showed off their legendary pokemon, they had been dominating us! Sure, it's two-on-two now, but it's hardly a levelled playing field!"

"I know," Christie said. "This is bad. They thought they had all the advantage but now…"

"You see?" Ross said arrogantly. "Traitors and other cretins like you are no match for me. Not even the great Black Jack can beat me."

"Current and future pokemon masters?" Maxwell said also being arrogant. "We made you look like novices."

Ash still had the look of anger on his face while Alice's eyes showed fear after seeing three of their partners get beaten by two rare and very powerful pokemon. Black Jack looked at their direction and noticed that they were now losing focus. The bodies of their pokemon showed they had taken several damages, thanks to Suicune. They were both breathing heavily, trying to gain a small rest and energy.

"Don't listen to them, kids," Black Jack thought. "They're trying to psyche you out. Stay focussed."

Alice looked back at his uncle. Though she can't his eyes because of his sunglasses, she felt deep within her mind and heart that he's encouraging her in silence. She smiled as she clenched her fist, feeling her confidence and the will to win growing back. "Ash," she said catching his attention. "I got an idea."

Ash nodded and lowered his head towards her while she whispered in his ear. He nodded a couple of times while he listened intently. "Got it," he said with a smile. They both smiled nastily, looking back at the opposition.

Maxwell showed suspicion but Ross was still confident. "It doesn't matter what plans you got," Ross said. "Maxwell and I will crush you like nuts."

"We'll see about that," Alice said, this time putting on an evil face. "Pyro! Run and hit Suicune with your Flame Wheel attack!"

"An evil looking face?" Black Jack thought to himself. "That's my trademark look, isn't it?"

The Typhlosion looked back at his trainer, also with a small smirk before putting his focus on the battle. On his four legs, he ran towards the blue beast at high speed while a ball of flame engulfed around him.

"Suicune… Hydro Pump," Ross said, thinking that it was now a good time to finish this match once and for all. Blue energy surrounded the blue elegant beast showing that she was charging up her power while Pyro kept on running towards her.

"Hey! Don't attack up ahead!" Jerry yelled in shock.

"Too late!" Keith said.

Suicune opened her mouth, shooting out a mighty blast of water at Pyro.

"Now's our chance!" Ash yelled. "Pikachu! Volt Tackle now!"

"What!?" Ross yelled in a displeasing shock.

The Hydro Pump connected with the Flame Wheel attack, causing an explosion. Pikachu dashed towards Suicune at the speed of sound with a strong electric power surging around him. He was so fast that no one, not even a legendary pokemon could catch up with him. Close enough for the move to connect with great accuracy, he leapt and ferociously slammed his body right into Suicune's neck... and through it.

Pikachu's powered up body ripped a hole inside her neck, going inside before slamming through the back of the neck and ripping her head off, much to the shock of almost everyone while the rest of the body collapsed to the floor.

"Pikachu..." Christie said fearfully. "He just ripped Suicune's head off!"

"Ash!" Max yelled angrily and disapprovingly. "Why did... hey, wait a minute..."

His expression turned into puzzlement when he and the others saw something falling out of Suicune's dismembered head before it fell to the floor in front of Black Jack. He looked down and saw some bolts and other pieces of scrap sticking out. "As I thought," he said tonelessly. "It's a robot."

"You mean... after all this time people are saying that Suicune's a legend, it has been actually a robot?" May said in shock.

"It's a fake Suicune, May!" Max shouted in an annoyed way. "Couldn't you tell the difference!?"

"You couldn't!" May yelled back.

"As I thought," Black Jack said with a smirk on his face as he picked up the robot's head and observed it closely. Somehow, he knew that the Suicune was a robot all along, which also explained why he wasn't shocked when Pikachu destroyed it. He arrogantly looked at Ross, who was so shocked and displeased. "Let me guess, not insured, right?"

"This… cannot be…" Ross said in dismay. "How could this happen?"

"I had a feeling that there's something wrong with that Suicune," Ash said. "There's no way that you could get her to follow you around. If memory serves correctly, she's one of the legendary pokemon that helps protect the planet, not destroy it."

"No pokemon would follow villains like you around!" Alice yelled.

"Alice, you took one look at me and somehow you gained your confidence there," Black Jack thought noticeably. "Not to mention figuring out why I wasn't so shocked when I first saw them. Ash is right, every legendary pokemon we know would never dream of damaging their home planet."

"Moltres! Sky Attack on that rodent!" Maxwell yelled suddenly, using the distraction against his opponents. The firebird engulfed himself in flames while glowing brightly before he quickly dived down, aiming his beak towards his target Pikachu.

"Pikachu! Watch out!" Ash yelled in desperation. Pikachu turned around, seeing Moltres dashing down towards him. There was nothing he could do except defend himself. He held his paws up, ready to receive the impact.

Suddenly, a steel chair fell and crashed on top of Moltres's head, crushing it to the ground and smashing it into pieces of nuts and bolts, courtesy of Pyro who was standing on top of the chair. Moltres was no longer moving, much to Maxwell's dismay. Almost everyone was shocked that this Moltres was a robot too.

"(This one's for Tattoo, mate)," Pyro growled bitterly as he stepped off the chair.

Black Jack held up two fingers. "Suicune and Moltres are out of the game and Team Molten and Ocean are out of useable pokemon," he announced. "Ash's team wins."

"Did it!" Ash yelled triumphantly as he raised his fist up high into the air and everyone cheered for joy except for their opponents.

Black Jack lowered his sunglasses down, giving his enemies a death-threatening look. "And you know what that means," he said with a smirk.

Ross slowly stepped. "Everyone! Retreat!" he yelled. Everyone from Team Molten and Ocean ran to their vehicles and entered them.

For Ocean, they were using their car to get away. The driver started to drive but for some reason, they were not moving. "What's going on here?" Ross yelled angrily. He turned around and saw Tyranitar and Feraligatr grabbing hold of the back of the car with their strong claws. They then heard some glass bashing from the front of the car and turned into that direction. They saw Nidoking slamming his head into the windscreen before shattering to pieces. "(Here's Spiky)!" Nidoking roared in a manically playful manner, which made Team Ocean scream in fear.

Team Molten tried to get away using their helicopter. "Pilot! Start flying!" Maxwell yelled. A man in a red cap with scruffy hair showed his face.

"Who to, pally?" he said with a cheesy grin.

"Wait a minute! You're not our pilot!" Maxwell yelled.

"Isaac Wolfpack, Orre Pack member. Don't bother finding us because we're not available for servicing at the moment." the man said while several police officers arrived on the scene. "Please leave an appointment after you get out of this predicament," he continued sarcastically.

Outside the vehicles, Black Jack looked around seeing the pokemon and people his friends and associates had saved. They all rejoiced after being saved and for some, a job well done. He was mostly disappointed when he saw a bunch of police officers arriving on the scene. "That detective Stevens," he moaned, knowing that Stevens was a member of authority. "I wanted to have some fun here."

"Ash! Ash!" a woman cried. Ash's attention was caught as he turned to the direction that the person was calling from. It was Misty, who he dearly missed for many days after her kidnap. She was running to him with tears of joy in her eyes.

"Misty!" he yelled happily as he started doing the same.

They ran closer and closer to each other. Close enough for Misty to slap him in the face, knocking him down. Ash was shocked by this sort of action as he placed his hand on his hurt cheek. "Misty…" he said. "Wha…?

"That's for not saving me!" she yelled angrily.

Ash looked down in shame, still remained seated. "Misty…" he said guiltily. "I REALLY wanted to save you, but…"

He felt a soft hand touching his, where the hurt cheek was. He looked up and saw a sad yet happy look on her face. Her eyes showed sadness after what she did to him, the smile was for another reason. "And this is for thinking, worrying and caring so much about me," she said softly as she closed her and moved her head towards Ash's while he did the same until their lips touched. The kiss was light with passion.

Tracey and May couldn't help but look in their direction. "It looks like Ash has really grown a lot in the past five years," Tracey said noticeably.

"Yeah," May said solemnly seeing how happy Ash was with Misty.

Everyone was rejoicing, apart from Bluesky, who couldn't help but look at Aurora celebrating with her friends and family. He mentally asked himself where would he go from there that now he found his mother and long lost friend. That and much more questions.

While Alice, Keith and Jerry observed, one by one, each member of both criminal organisations were being arrested, handcuffed and placed into vans. "Okay," one of the officers said while Ross and Ruth were being handcuffed. "That should be all of them."

Ross knocked the officers away before he could get handcuffed. He grabbed one of their guns before looking at the teenagers. "You think you can get away with it?" he snarled. "You think I'm going to let you get away with that? Think again!"

He quickly aimed the gun at Alice, much to Keith's and Jerry's shock, and shot out a bullet. Both Keith and Jerry reacted at the same time. Keith tackled Alice down while Jerry dived taking the bullet in the chest, spewing some red liquid out of it. The small furry red dogs, Growlithes, which belonged to the police, ran and tackled Ross down.

Everyone reacted to the gunshot sound in shock. They ran into the scene, seeing Ross being held down by the Growlithes, Keith picking Alice up after tackling her down and Jerry lying on the floor with red liquid on the chest where he was shot.

"Jerry!" Alice yelled sadly. "He's hurt!"

Jerry let out a small moan. "Somebody! Get the ambulance!" Ash yelled.

"Don't bother, Ash," Jerry moaned, struggling to get to his feet.

"Jerry, you're hurt!" Ash shouted, angry at Jerry's stubbornness.

"Hurt? I'm not hurt," he said as got to his feet, standing like a healthy person who wasn't hurt. "Probably something I ate."

"But the bullet…" Alice said in puzzlement.

"Oh, that!" Jerry said as he placed his hand inside his t-shirt through his neck collar. "I got an inner-pocket in my t-shirt," he continued as he took out a small notebook with steel covers. "I was looking for a notebook when the boss took me in. I chose this one because it looked cool… I never thought it's gonna be a life saver," he finished gleefully.

"I guess he's got his luck streak," Black Jack thought theoretically.

"But that blood…" Cassandra said, also puzzled.

"Blood?" Jerry said before looking at his notebook. The cover was smeared with a red splat and he had a look of displeasure on his face. "Tell me it's not what I think it is," he said with quiver in his voice as he reached into his inner pocket, this time he took out a ripped and ruined packet of tomato ketchup. It turned out that the sauce covered his t-shirt and book when the bullet hit him.

He shook, trying to breath after he saw the ruined packet. Not able to take in the horrendous moment, he fainted. Everyone, except Misty who was confused, let out a small moan, thinking how ridiculous it was to have a breakdown over a small packet of ketchup. "What's wrong with him?" she asked.

"He's obsessed with food," Black Jack said simply in a dull tone.

"I'll get all of you if it's the last thing I do!" Ross yelled whilst being dragged away by the police. "You'll never get away from me! This isn't over by a long shot!"

While being handcuffed, she used her body knock the police officers away before storming towards Black Jack and kicking him in the gut. It only had little to no effect on Black Jack. He narrowed his eyes at her before looking away in shame. "I wish you hadn't done that," he said. "But then again… I'm kinda glad you did."

He quickly turned around kicked her right in the face, knocking her down. He let out small groan out of pain while shaking her head to shake away the dizziness. "This isn't over, Black Jack," she snarled. "Just remember who just kicked you in the stomach!"

"Idiot," Black Jack grunted. He knew that she was blaming him for her loss.

"Right," one of the officers said, dusting his hands after shoving Ruth into the van. "That's all of them."

"Wait a minute," Alice said. "Where are Pierre and Kenzo?"

"Who?" the officer asked.

"The French and Japanese guys," Mecha said as he walked towards them. "They're members of Team Molten."

"Don't tell me they've escaped?!" Alice said in disbelief.

"Via remote control I see," Mecha said. They both let out a small, annoyed sigh; not knowing what ideas those villains will come up with. "Even though Tyranitar told me that they beaten up their pokemon, I bet they had some gadgets attached to them that helped them escape."

"Do not worry," the officer said. "We'll keep an eye out for them."

"Yeah, let's not worry about them..." Alice said.

While everyone rejoiced and celebrated, Black Jack couldn't help but look at a nearby tree branch. He sensed that a pokemon with a strong presence with power was just resting there, taking off just before he could see who it was. "Something wrong, Black Jack?" Ash asked, noticing something suspicious.

Black Jack didn't turn his attention to him. "It's nothing," he replied simply yet suspiciously.

At a forest, not far from Black Jack's location, a black bird with a yellow beak and talons, known as a Murkrow, was flying towards the deep part of his destination. A purple fathered Blaziken looked up into the sky and spotted him flying down. "(Raven has returned, master)," he growled.

A human hand reached out from the shadows, allowing Raven, the Murkrow to safely land on it. "Welcome, Raven," he said in casual tone. "Unlike some other spies, you never get shot."

Raven whispered to the shadowed figure, who let out a small laugh. "It seems to me that he's got time now," he said. "Hmhmhmhm..."

What's with this guy? Has he been spying on Black Jack for some time? What does this guy want? Find out next episode.  
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More coming! Reviews please! 


	28. Episode 8, Chapter 1

**Episode 8: Kill Or Be Killed**

Chapter 1

_A/N: Waning: Contains blood. Viewer's discretion is advised_

It was a few days after the villains' defeat.

At the pokeon center, Alice, Jerry and Keith were at the pokemon center where Raincloud, Bluesky's mother was being held as a patient. She was held in the same location where Aurora was treated. While she slept behind the strong plastic glass, the young teens looked on after being given the information that she will be fully recovered after a few days. Still, they couldn't help but be concerned because anything could happen. Alice placed her hand on the glass window and let out a small sigh.

"Bluesky…" Alice said sadly. "I wish that he was here to see her."

"Too bad," Jerry said. "He's a little too big to come into this place."

"It must be so hard for him to not see her in this place after so long," Keith said. "If something happens…"

"Don't ever say that," Alice said, interrupting him. Keith and Jerry became surprised by her small outburst. "I don't like seeing my friends suffer or getting hurt."

"No one does, Alice," Jerry said placing his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"The nurse said that she's doing everything she can to help," Keith said. "Raincloud will be okay after a few days."

Alice smiled, thanking them for their comfort.

Outside, Team Molten and Ocean were now repairing the damages they had done in the village, with Black Jack and his pokemon watching them with murder threatening glares, like Spearows looking down on their preys. Black Jack, Ash and members of the Orre Pack agreed to take turns in watching them. At that moment, Ash was training his pokemon while Misty and the Orre Pack observed.

Nidoking, now known as Spike, couldn't help but notice that someone was missing. Recently, he wanted to be given a nickname after Salamence remembered his name and that he remembered Alice suggesting to Black Jack that he should give his pokemon nicknames. After all, Chan was given his nickname during their adventures in Orre. After a small debate, Black Jack decided to call his Nidoking Spike, his Feraligatr Mike, his Tyranitar was known as Snake and Metagross was given the nickname Hardshell.

"(Hey, Jack)," Spike growled to his trainer. "(Where's Bluesky)?"

"Hmm…" Black Jack thought aloud while he remembered the conversation he and Bluesky had a couple of nights ago.

-Flashback-

"So… you're stuck between returning back to your clan and sticking with us," Black Jack said to his dragon friend. Salamence confessed that he missed his group so much after being separated from them after so many years. They were standing in the middle of a forest where no one, or anyone who cares, was there. Silence filled the night air apart from a small wind blowing while Black Jack stood with his back showing to Blueksy.

It was after a moment Black Jack asked, "Are you sure there's nothing going on with you and Aurora?"

The Salamence's eyes widened as he turned his head away, attempting to hide his small blush from his dark clothed friend. "(Honestly… I don't know)," he growled, feeling slightly embarrassed of this situation after being known as one of strongest fighters for many years. He felt as though he was getting soft after meeting up with her. He remembered that he was getting along with her, even when she was a Dragonair, they both nuzzled when she refreshed his memory by singing him a lullaby his mother used to sing. Plus, he had strong feelings for her that were more than just friendship. Despite all that, he was also worried and afraid of how Black Jack would react.

Black Jack turned around, with his trademark frown hiding behind his sunglasses, and slowly walked towards him, who now had his back turned, until he stood next to him. It was a few seconds until he spoke again. "It's really up to you, Bluesky," he said. "You've been with us for years, even when I was acting like a jerk in those Team Rocket years."

Both of them were silent for a few moments until Black Jack spoke again. "Bluesky, it's okay to fall in love," he continued. Bluesky's eyes widened with shock when he mentioned the last word. "But just remember this, there will be guys who get hurt in situations like this no matter what happens."

Salamence looked back to the grassy ground, still in shock. "Just do whatever you want," Black Jack continued before he displayed a small smile. "Just know that I believe in you."

He started to walk back to the village while the Salamence was still in deep thought. "And hey!" Black Jack called back while still walking, getting his friend's attention. "Be careful with Aurora this mating season okay?"

Bluesky's eyes widened even further as he deeply blushed, feeling a strong cringe inside, wondering if Black Jack had to mention that.

-End Flashback-

"He's somewhere… thinking," Black Jack replied to Spike.

"(What about Chan)?" Nidoking growled.

"He's out training by himself."

"(Pah! Slackers)," Nidoking growled in annoyance.

"Hello, Mr. Black Jack," a man's voice said catching their attention. He was a middle-aged who had ginger red hair and beard; he was also wearing a navy suit.

"Oh, you're the mayor guy of this town," Black Jack said recognising him. "Peter, isn't it?"

"Yes, Mr. Black Jack," the mayor replied. "I've heard about the destruction of your vehicle. Deeply sorry about that."

Black Jack let out a small frustrated growl after hearing that. He cherished that motorcycle as though it was like a friend of his, even though it was a present from one of the people he hated. "What's it to you?" he said bitterly.

"Well, because of you have done for our village, we bought you a new bike."

"It's not going to be the same."

"I beg to differ," the mayor said with a small smirk as he stepped aside, signalling for Black Jack to look past him. He saw the bike that looked the same as his previous one, including a sidecar.

"A Harley?" Black Jack said in an utmost pleasant surprise as he slowly walked to his new bike, giving it a light stroke as though it was something precious. "It's… it's almost like my old one. H-how did you guys know?"

"Let's say that we got some fans of yours."

"But… all I did was help out though," Black Jack said calming himself down. "Alice and the other guys are the real heroes."

"Well… if you wish…" the Mayor said as he took the key to the vehicle out of his pocket.

"I'll take it anyway. Thanks," Black Jack said eagerly as he leapt onto his new motorbike, behind first onto the seat after snatching the key away from the mayor. "Time to test drive this baby," he said as he quickly drove away and out of the village.

"(Like I said, 'Slackers')," Nidoking growled dully to the mayor, who didn't understand him.

Elsewhere, outside yet not far from the village, Bluesky was resting miserably close to a pond next to a waterfall. He was in deep thought with who to go with, even with his mother being on her way to recovery. Go back with Aurora, his mother and his family clan or keep on travelling with Black Jack and his bone breaking buddies. He weighed out the pros and cons of both decisions but he still couldn't come to either one because of the damage it may cause.

While he was still in deep though, a pokemon was swimming underneath the surface of the pond, trying to not catch his attention. It came close to the edge of the pool where Bluesky was resting on. It suddenly splashed out, grabbing him around the neck and dragging him inside, making him splash into the pond.

As quickly as he was dragged in, the Salamence quickly flew out and landed on his feet a distance away from the pond, ready for his attacker to come out. "(What's the idea)?" he growled suspiciously, now soaking wet.

He saw a couple of orange paws grabbing onto the ground. It turned out to be Aurora as she hoisted herself onto dry land, smiling with delight at him. "(Hehe, gotcha)," she cooed. Bluesky was surprised at this. He could've attacked her but he instinctively escaped and wondered what made him do that as he watched Aurora shaking vigorously, drying herself off.

"(Surprised you, huh)?" Aurora cooed smugly while Salamence did the same. "(I was told that you and your friends do the surprising)."

Salamence decided to put his worries away, like he often did when he wasn't alone for the last few days. He smiled as he walked towards the pond. "(Well, most of the time we do and not in a pleasant way)," he growled. "(Sometimes, we get surprised too so we're all the same)."

He started drinking some water from the pond while the Dragonite did the same. "(Sometimes, we do pleasant and fun surprises. Y'know, for Alice and the other guys)," Bluesky continued before drinking some more.

He suddenly squirted some water out of his mouth into her face, showing that he could surprise her any time as well. She quickly stood up and moved a few steps away from him. "(That wasn't pleasant)!" she squealed disapprovingly while wiping the water away, yet she couldn't help but let out a small giggle.

"(Yeah, but it was fun)!" Bluesky cried joyfully before taking flight.

Aurora let out a small nasty yet playful growl before flying after him. "(Come here)!" she cooed while she chased him in the sky.

Elsewhere in the forest, Chan was practising his skills as a martial artist. He threw a number of punches and kicks, focusing on his strength and speed. He looked up to a tree before leaping up into the air and kicking off a number of leaves of the tree's branch.

He quickly landed on his feet while the leaves slowly fell aimlessly towards the ground. He stood in the centre, surrounded by them with his head looking down, breathing calmly. As quick as a blink, he used one of his paws to quickly try and grab them allowing the rest of the leaves to hit the ground. To his knowledge, these types of small leaves were incredibly light and they slowly fall down because of air resistance, yet they are difficult to grab if someone tried to catch them in a fast attempt.

After the last leaf drop to the floor, he moved his clenched paw towards his face, close enough for him to see. He opened his paw to see how many leaves he had caught as he counted each one. "(Eight)," he growled to himself with a small smile. "(A new record)."

"(Dear, oh dear. You still have a long way to go, little chick)," growled another voice.

Chan's eyes widened with shock. "(That voice)," he growled before turning around. He saw a purpled feathered Blaziken slowly walking into the scene with his arms folded. His eyes narrowed upon seeing him. "(You)…"

"(Hello, my friend)," the dark Blaziken growled. "(You look well)."

"(What do you want, Darkfire)?" Chan growled suspiciously, putting on his guard. "(Where's...)?"

"(My master? He's around)," Darkfire growled casually. "(He just sent me here to send you and your friends a message)."

Fire sparks began flowing around Chan's fist, for he knew what Darkfire meant. "(Well, I got a message for you guys too)," he growled bitterly. "(Leave us alone)."

"(I think not. There are more reasons we want your trainer than to just battling him)."

"(I don't care what your reasons are. I don't always agree with Black Jack's actions but I will not let you guys touch him)."

With that said, Chan rushed towards his dark nemesis, now with both of his fists engulfed in flames while Darkfire stood his ground confidently.

Black Jack was enjoying his test drive on his new motorcycle. He drove towards the campsite research was being done at the cave of Mt. Ember. Upon his arrival, he stopped at the center of the campsite and got off his vehicle. "Ah, Mr. Black Jack," Professor Oak called to him, catching his attention.

"Oak," Black Jack replied back, seeing the professor walking towards him.

"I see you're taking interest in that new bike of yours."

"I've been a big fan of bikes since I got my first one," Black Jack replied as h lightly stroked one of the bike's handles.

"Well, since you arrived, maybe you would like to take a look at what we recently discovered."

"I'm not really into all this research stuff."

"I'm pretty sure that you'll be very surprised by this… you probably haven't seen this pokemon before."

"Remind me. What pokemon is it?"

"Mew."

"Eh," Black Jack replied simply as he showed a small shrug while turning away, indicating that he's seen the creature before and that he doesn't care about it.

"It could mean that something 'big' might come up."

That stopped Black Jack from getting on his bike, hearing the word 'big' got him feeling intrigued, somewhat getting the feeling that it might involve a big battle. He turned around with an interested smile. "Continue," he said.

"If you follow me," Prof. Oak said as he turned towards two of the Pidgeots, a huge bird pokemon, waiting for them. "I'll tell you my theory when we get there."

They sat on top of the pokemon. One of the Pidgeots was used to Oak's weight while the other let out a small grunt when Black Jack sat on top of him. "Hey, I don't weigh that much," Black Jack said, sounded sarcastically offended. Both bird pokemon flew high into the sky, taking their passengers with them.

When the Pidgeots reached landed on the cliff, where the cave was, both humans got off their backs. "Now, as you probably know, Black Jack," he started. "Mew is an extremely rare pokemon, considered to be one of the legendary pokemon. The image we found in that cave showed a large number of them flying above some sort of temple with a man dressed in a toga, befriending the Mews. It could be that in the olden days, there were so many of them until some sort of doomsday event occurred."

"Eh," Black Jack responded, turning his face away. Although he listened to Oak's words, he didn't find it interesting.

"The most astonishingly thing about that image is…" Prof. Oak continued. "The man in the toga held a striking resemblance… to you."

Black Jack raised an eyebrow out of surprise while he turned his face back to his researching associate. "Me? Seriously?" he said. "In today's world, a lot of people have beards and moustaches, y'know. So did the other guys in those olden days."

"I assure you, Black Jack," Oak said as they entered the cave. "I think you'll find the resemblance most astounding."

Meanwhile, back at Chan's and Darkfire's location, they both battled fiercely against each other. Both were engaged in close combat, using nothing but their body parts as weapons to get into the offensive and defensive. Both tried to hit each other to no avail as each of their attacks kept getting caught and get countered back or pushed away. Now, they were a distance away from each other, standing in their fighting stances.

"(Not bad, little chick)," Darkfire growled. "(There's nothing like a good warm-up)."

"(I agree)," Chan growled back. "(I wasn't trying my hardest)."

"(Your beak says one thing but your eyes says different)," Darkfire said. "(You seem very eager to get rid of me)."

"(I am… getting me enthused like this is part of my warm-up)."

"(I wouldn't be too hasty if I was you)."

"(Darkfire)…" Chan growled as he held his wrist down with one paw while electric powers sparked on his other paw, showing that his powering up for his next attack. "(When it comes to battling me and my cripple making friends, nothing is too hasty)."

He suddenly vanished into thin air, much to Darkfire's surprise. While he tried to figure out where his opponent went, Chan suddenly appeared in front of him and viciously smashed his paw into his gut, sending him flying at a distance until he harshly crashed to the ground.

Darkfire quickly sat up, holding the hurt anatomy to momentarily stop the pain. Despite how much damage he received, he giggled evilly. "(Is that your best shot)?" he growled.

"[(He doesn't look worried)," Chan thought to himself suspiciously while Darkfire stood up, still with his paw on his stomach.

"(Perhaps I underestimated you a little bit)," Darkfire said. "(I take it that it's one of your new moves)."

"(You didn't think I'd stop training, did you)?" Chan barked. "(I got more moves than you can count your six fingers)."

"(Still, even with all that training, you still won't beat me, let alone make me go away. Besides, I've got attacks that even pokemon masters don't know about)."

"(Well then enough talk. Show me)."

Darkfire obliged as he held a small ball of purple flame in his paw before tossing it to the ground. The fireball moved along the floor upon hitting the ground aiming towards Chan's feet.

"[(That move)," Chan thought to himself. He remembered the time when he got hit by that attack. It was a homing projectile that homes in on its target. Even when the target attempts to jump over it, it would shoot out a large pillar of fire hitting its target and immobilising him, allowing Darkfire to relentlessly attack.

"(You want me, little candlelight)?" he growled focussing on the Ember attack coming towards him. He ran towards the small fireball at a great speed. He ran closer and closer to the fireball until it shot out a pillar of flame. But he was expecting that. At the last split second, he quickly performed a cartwheel to manoeuvre out of the way.

He quickly saw a fist coming his way and hurriedly blocked it. He attempted to hit Darkfire back but that too was blocked. Both fighters tried to land a hit to no avail until Darkfire attempted a Slash attack. He swung his claws towards Chan but he jumped backwards and then zoomed towards him with a hefty strong punch. His attack viciously slammed him in the face, physically forcing to fly a shot distance until he hit the ground, bouncing a couple of times after crash-landing.

Chan smiled after his successful hit but he felt a small sting on his left arm. He slightly lifted up the feathers on his hurt limb and saw a small scratch on it. "(Nice touch)," he growled.

Darkfire slowly got up to his feet, wiping a small spit of blood away from his beak while smiling slyly. "(Not bad)," he growled.

The red one looked at the dark version of his species as they both stood in their fighting stances again. They both rushed towards each other, quickly thinking of a strategy to defeat the opposition.

Darkfire quickly went for a punch but Chan sidestepped him, making him miss, while he knocked his fist downward with a quick swift jab with his fingers. Chan then proceeded to trip him with a low roundhouse kick, hitting him by the hind legs. Darkfire was flipped upside down after that hit but he landed on his paws and leapt backwards, this time landing on his feet still looking confident.

They were a distance away from each other again. Chan looked confused of why Darkfire was still showing confidence. He suddenly felt a small sting on his leg. He kneeled down to check the stinging numbness and it turned out that there was a small cut. He looked at his opponent, figuring out that he must've quickly cut his leg while he was upside down. "(Surprised, I see)," Darkfire said smugly. "(I was surprised by you. You were almost lacking in speed but you still got me)."

Before Chan could figure what he meant, Darkfire then rushed towards him again, only this time Chan stood his ground, preparing himself for any attack from his nemesis. Darkfire went to punch him but Chan blocked it but he soon felt another scratch, this time on his other arm. "[(Strange)," Chan thought. "[(I would've seen that coming but for some reason I didn't)."

He soon felt a cut on his thigh before getting knocked by a kick to the gut. Chan rolled backwards because of the force of the kick, putting him in a seated position. He started to feel dizzy and weak. "(What's going on)?" Chan asked himself, shaking away the dizziness.

"(I'll explain it to you)," Darkfire growled, now standing with his arms folded. "The scars I have given you are injected with poison)."

"(What)?" Chan roared in shock.

"(Yes. Long ago, my paws was injected by the poison to add to my fighting way, the poison would've killed me but my master cast a spell so I could live while controlling the poison within me. Want to know the reason why I never used it on you before? Well, let's just say that I wanted to surprise you. The poison injected inside will make you weaker as it progresses. You will become dizzy and weak and you attacks will get slower than usual until your dying hour, which I think will be in about a number of hours unless you continue fighting me. Want to know what the cure is? There isn't any. Not even a typical antidote or berry would cure you)."

Chan gnarled his teeth with anger building inside his body. Despite seeing himself as the least violent and most well behaved of his trainer's team, he allowed his pride and emotion took control of him when he saw more of Darkfire. "(Still want to fight, little chick)?" Darkfire growled. "(It'll be simple for you to lay down and die)."

"(You first)," Chan growled before rushing towards him.

While they fought, Aurora was chasing Bluesky through a forest after he playfully splashed water into her face. The Salamence immediately stopped when he saw a steep hill leading downwards covered by beautifully flowers. He quickly turned around, seeing Aurora playfully pouncing on him but he lifted up his forelegs, catching her successfully but their weights let them roll down the hill until they hit the bottom of it with Bluesky pinning her down.

He let out a small chortle after that fun moment… until he felt a lick of affection by Aurora. He showed a surprised emotion as he felt a small pleasant wave of electricity flowing through his body as he turned to look into her eyes. She was smiling and looking back at him, both in an enticing way. "(Aurora)…" he growled calmly, smiling back at her.

Aurora quickly placed a finger of her paw on his mouth, motioning him to not say a word before slowly wrapping her arms around him, bring him closer to her as they closed their eyes, close enough for them to lovingly nuzzle each other's scaly skins.

Meanwhile, Black Jack and Prof. Oak walked through the cave, which was placed with lights on the walls, allowing researchers to view the chipped out pictures on the rocky walls carefully. "These are the inscriptions, which we figured, that were written many years ago," Prof. Oak. "I think the person is telling us a legend or maybe a prophecy."

"Or it could be some sort of prank," Black Jack said dully as he looked at the images.

"Ah! Here it is," Prof. Oak said excitedly.

Black Jack turned his head towards Prof. Oak as he showed the image he was talking about earlier. He described that the drawn out person had a strong resemblance to Black Jack. The drawn out person had more or less the same facial features that Black Jack had, only this character was wearing some kind of ancient clothing.

Black Jack had an opinion of his own. "He looks nothing like me," he said dully.

He went and lightly pressed his finger on the imprint of 'himself'. "Wait! Don't touch it!" Prof. Oak warned. But upon touching it, Black Jack saw a series of images flashed into his head. He let a small grunt as he quickly took his finger away from the wall.

He felt dizzy and shocked after that quick flash. He blinked several times and rubbing his head. "So that's why you told me not to touch," he said.

"I was afraid that you may damage the walls we need to research on," Oak said worriedly looking at the wall. He turned his attention to his associate, noticing how light-headed he looked. "Black Jack, are you okay?" he asked.

"I… think I need some air," Black Jack replied as he slowly out of the cave while the puzzled Prof. Oak looked the image that Black Jack pressed, tapping it lightly a few times.

While he was recovering, Chan was at a huge disadvantage against his opponent, on the verge of being defeated even. He was knocked down again after a vicious stomp-like kick in the face. He laid on his front, struggling to get to his feet so he could fight the dark Blaziken known as Darkfire. After taking a while, much to Darkfire's boredom, Chan stood on his feet, feeling really weak and dizzy after taking in the poison his opponent gave him.

"(How boring)," Darkfire said. "(Have either of your masters ever told you that you'd quit eventually)."

"(Never… did)," Chan said weakly, breathing in and out between those two words.

"(Huh. Your mind, heart and soul are strong, my stubborn opponent. But your body is weak after taking in that poison after I scarred you. You should pay attention to that more)."

He dug his foot into the ground before quickly kicking out small blocks of dirt at him. With his last ounce of strength, Chan ran towards Darkfire knocking away each dirt while Darkfire continued with his attack. When he was close enough, Chan let out a loud roar as he slammed his fist onto Darkfire's chest with all his might. There was a sound of bones breaking, but it wasn't the ribs inside Darkfire's chest… it was the bones inside Chan's fist.

Darkfire smiled evilly, feeling no pain whatsoever even after taking the hit. "(That's not the only pain you're feeling, isn't it, little chick)?" he growled, looking at Chan's hurt face.

Chan looked down and saw all three fingers of his opponent penetrating inside his gut, causing his blood to slowly ooze out. Darkfire pulled his paw out, making the blood leak out even more but Chan quickly covered it to stop it as he fell to the floor, groaning in pain.

Eyes shut tightly; he laid on his back, trying to take in the pain while Darkfire looked down on him, smiling arrogantly. Chan sensed his presence, despite his eyes being closed. "(Are you… finished yet)?" Chan growled hurtfully.

Darkfire responded by grabbing Chan's neck with one paw. Then, he lifted him up as high as he could. "(Just one more move, little chick)," he growled sinisterly as his eyes glowed energetically purple. "(Just one more)."

Suddenly, after he let out a small but long grunt, a huge column of dark purple fire erupted from the ground, surrounding the bodies of both Blazikens. Darkfire was still grunting while unleashing this powerful force while still holding onto the neck of his victim. Chan on the other hand was feeling a world pain as he felt the pillar of flame surrounding his body, including the scarred and punctured parts. "(Scream)!" Darkfire roared. "(Scream for me)!"

Back at the village, everyone noticed the pillar of dark purple fire and began pointing at it while talking curiously about it. Spike, Mike, Hardshell and Snake showed a different reaction of shock and dismay.

Just as Bluesky and Aurora were enjoying their precious moment, they heard a loud roar. They flew up high into the air, they too saw the purple pillar. "(What is that Bluesky)?" Aurora asked curiously.

"(It can't be)…" Blueksy growled in disbelief.

Black Jack also saw the purple pillar after he came round, also to his disbelief.

"Him again," Black Jack and his pokemon said simultaneously with narrowed eyes, with the pokemon saying his name in their own language. He looked around, and saw a sledgehammer inside an equipment box. He quickly walked over to it and picked up, deciding to take it with him. Then he, and the rest of his pokemon, rushed to their destination, much to the other observers' confusion.

Having enough of waiting for Chan to scream despite every bit of pain put into him, Darkfire stopped his attack as his eyes stopped glowing, making the fiery column vanish quickly. "(Fool)," he growled in an annoyed way before slamming him down.

Chan was still breathing, even after all the beatings he had taken. "(I sense your friends coming. I won't kill you here but you're as good as dead anyway with the poison I placed inside you)," Darkfire said showing a haughty smile. "(If you somehow survive this miraculously, we'll meet again)."

He leapt onto one of the tree branches and onto another, jumping away from the scene. "(If you survive)…" Chan heard his nemesis growl.

Soon, Black Jack and his friends rushed into the scene, with Black Jack on his motorbike, Bluesky and Aurora flying by air and the rest of his pokemon by foot. Black Jack quickly got off his bike and ran towards his Blaziken, who was still lying on the ground, nearly unconscious. He kneeled down close to him, looking at the wounds, bruises and burnt marks his friend had on him. "Chan, say something," he said.

"(Darkfire… Damien… poison)…" Chan groaned in pain. "(Hard… for Pecha berry… or… any medication… to help me)…"

The pokemon shook their heads in dismay as they saw their friend in this sort of state. Black Jack's eyes narrowed and gnarled his teeth, both in anger. "That's what they think!" he snarled before taking out his pokeball and zapping Chan back in. He quickly stood and looked at his other pokemon before zapping them back inside. He looked at Aurora. "If you can follow me, you can come," he said before quickly getting on his bike and riding off.

"(Wait for me! What's going on)!?" she cried with great concern as she took flight.

At that time, Ash and the others arrived back at the village while Alice and her friends left the pokemon centre. They all noticed that Black Jack and his pokemon were missing. "Hey, where did uncle Jack go?" Alice asked.

"Probably giving some trouble makers a beating," Ash said.

They heard a motorbike speeding their way. They turned their attention to that revving sound and saw Black Jack riding his vehicle at high speed with Aurora following him. He sped past his associates and relative before immediately stopping his bike, got off and rushed into the hospital, much to their shock and curiosity. "Hey, Black Jack! What's going on!?" Isaac yelled.

"Something big I think," Wes said.

Ash turned towards Aurora when she landed on the ground. "Aurora, what happened?" he asked in a demanding voice, catching his friends' attentions.

"(It's Chan)," Aurora cried with great concern and worry in her voice. She was on the verge of tears. "(He's been beaten up badly)."

Pikachu and Ash showed their shocked looks. "Ash, what happened?" Alice asked, also being worried. "What's up with uncle Jack?"

Ash's eyes widened, as did Pikachu's and Aurora's. Ash turned around to face her afraid of how she might react after finding out one of her dear friends getting brutality beaten up. "Alice…" he said sombrely, looking down on the ground. "Chan's hurt…"

Inside the pokemon centre, Chan was laying on top of a wheeled stretcher with a bandage wrapped around his wounded areas to stop the bleeding. His stretcher was being hurriedly pushed big a pink, egg-shaped pokemon called a Chansey. Black Jack and Nurse Joy followed them close behind.

"He said something about the poison?" Nurse Joy asked in a fearful way.

"Just get him healed," Black Jack ordered angrily.

"Yes, sir. Please wait outside until the operation is done."

With that said, Nurse Joy and Chansey ran into the emergency rooms with the stretcher, leaving Black Jack behind the doors. He stood in his spot, looking down on the floor, breathing heavily in and out while his fist shook angrily. The emergency sign above the doors glowed, showing that the procedure went underway.

He heard some running footsteps coming towards him from behind before a pair of arms wrapped around his body. He slowly reacted as he turned his head around towards the person holding him. It was Alice, worried sick about her uncle and her friend Chan. Behind her were their friends and associates, apart from Aurora who was too big to fit through the door. Not wanting to be distracted, he turned his attention back to the sign.

Two hours later, when day became night, Black Jack was still standing at the same spot while some of his associates were frantically walking around the corridor while others calmly sat on their chairs or leaning against the walls. One thing for certain, they were deeply concerned about Chan's health.

Black Jack noticed the room's door opening despite that the light on the sign was still on. Everyone heard the door opening and quickly walked over to it. Nurse Joy stepped out of room with worry in her eyes. Black Jack's eyes narrowed, suspicious of one thing.

"Black Jack," she said sombrely. "About what Chan said... we don't have the antidote that can cure him..."

Everyone couldn't believe it. "Someone please say April Fool's day to me," Jerry said in dismay.

"I don't think we can, Jerry," Brock said.

"[There better a 'but' in it," Black Jack thought, trying to keep his anger in.

"But..." Nurse Joy continued, stopping everyone from getting worked up. "There is one thing we need to cure your friend. A berry called Puritay."

Everyone showed puzzled looks on their faces. "Puritay?" May asked. "What's that?"

"One of the most rarest berries in the world. Hardly anyone has seen it. I never seen it myself but I heard about it..."

Black Jack grabbed her neck and forced into the wall. He didn't want to hear all the details and was mixed with a number of negative feelings like anger and impatience. "Hey!" Stevens yelled but his friends held him back, afraid of what Black Jack might do.

"Talk straight," he growled sinisterly in a demanding way. "What does this berry look like? Where is it? How much time does Chan have left?"

"It's a white berry on a white plant, both of them clear as snow," Nurse Joy answered quickly. "It's on Mt. Frostbite, a mountain covered in snow no matter what the weather is. It's up north past Mt. Ember, it's not far. Chan doesn't have much time left, he's trying to hold on but he's running out of time, maybe two hours at most."

Black Jack released her neck and quickly made his exit out of the building. "Uncle! Where're you going? Do you know where Mt. Frostbite is? What if that guy hurts you too?" Alice cried.

"I spotted the mountain somewhere while riding my bike," Black Jack replied.

"I'll come with you!" Alice cried, quickly following him.

"No Alice!" Black Jack said in a demanding tone. "You and the other cubs stay here."

"But uncle…!"

Black Jack quickly turned around with anger in his eyes hiding behind his shades. Alice felt fear in her heart when he turned to look at her. "Am I talking to myself, little miss? You will do as you're told!" he shouted angrily.

Everyone became shocked and scared when Black Jack yelled at the most important person in his life, his niece, Alice. He never shouted at her until now. He turned around again and made his to the door, leaving Alice shocked and scared. "Uncle…" she whispered fearfully.

Ash turned to Misty. "I'll help him out," he said.

"But, Ash…" Misty said worriedly.

Ash kissed her on the cheek and smiled in an assuring way. "Trust me," he said with a wink. He then ran past Black Jack and stopped in front of him.

"Ketchum," Black Jack said. "If you're trying to stop me, you have no chance because I'm not in a mood."

"Who's making you stop?" Ash asked while Pikachu leapt onto his shoulder. "How about it if I come with you?"

"(Yeah! Me too)!" Pikachu squealed with enthusiasm in his voice.

Black Jack looked back towards Alice and his associates, thinking that this may be the last time he may see them. He slowly turned to Ash and suddenly ran past him. "If you can get to my bike before I start driving, you can come," he said.

Ash got into pursuit, attempting to chase Black Jack down while everyone looked on. Alice's shoulders trembled with fear and emotion as tears began to form in her eyes. "Uncle… why?" she sobbed while everyone looked at her with worry in their eyes. "Why have you become like this… why won't you let me help?"

"He's worried about you, Alice," Misty said caringly, placing her hand on her shoulder. "He doesn't want you getting hurt."

"I know… Chan's his pokemon," Alice sobbed, sniffling between words. "After everything that guy done to him… if uncle had to face him…"

"He'll be okay," Misty said quickly. "Your uncle will come through just like you did when you face Team Molten and Ocean."

"Man!" Jerry said, sounding scared and impressed. "I know that the boss likes to hurt people but I wondered what he would be like when he's really mad."

"Well, now you know, mate," Mecha said, also impressed. "I've seen him like this before. I'd hate to be the guy who crosses bosses, or in this case Black Jack. Still, I can't help but fear for him because whoever did something like that to Chan must be one dangerous individual."

"Be with Black Jack, man," Isaac said encouragingly, giving a light elbow on Rhydon's hard stone arm. "Pray for him. We all know that Black Jack's not to be messed with. Besides, Ash is a tough trainer himself and he's with him."

Alice's clenched fists shook, trying to stop herself from crying. She wiped her tears off, now showing that she had be strong… for her uncle and the pokemon he carried.

Outside, Black Jack quickly ran past Aurora, who was on a night watch and was surprised when he did that. He leapt onto his motorcycle. "(Hey, Black Jack)," Aurora cried. "(Where's)…?"

Black Jack quickly drove away, not allowing Aurora to finish her question. "(Bluesky)…" she cooed worriedly, knowing that there was a good chance that he would be with his trainer.

"Huh, that punk kid didn't make it, eh?" Black Jack said feeling a little disappointed yet smugly.

"Who are you calling a punk kid?" a familiar voice said, catching his attention.

Black Jack knew it was Ash, riding in the sidecar while holding Pikachu to his chest. "Bah," he muttered.

At the speed of a shot out bullet and no light to guide except the stars and the moon, he drove past through deep forests and mountains until he, Ash and Pikachu spotted a mountain that was covered in white snow. "[Mt. Frostbite," they thought in unison.

As soon they reached their destination, Black Jack immediately stopped before he and Ash got off the bike. They both looked up, knowing that it would be easier to get there by flight. "You got flying pokemon on you, Ketchum?" Black Jack asked.

Ash nodded in response as he took a pokeball off his belt. While he did that, he noticed a rather dirty wooden cottage nearby with no lights in it and figured that it's probably abandoned. "Come on out, Swellow!" he yelled as he released his bird.

Black Jack let Bluesky loose from his pokeball. They were both told to help their trainers get to the top of the mountain. They obeyed as they grabbed of their trainers' shoulders and flew up into the sky, looking to get to the top of the mountain and find the berry.

Despite the top of the mountain being so high up, the flying pokemon were having no problem lifting their trainers up. Suddenly, a purple fireball came flying their way at high speed. "A fireball! Dodge!" Black Jack yelled, seeing the fireball come his way from below.

Everyone quickly saw the fireball after that warning, and the flying pokemon out of the way at a split second. Everyone looked down and saw a young silver haired man dressed in a long purple jacket over the rest of his black clothes. He smiled sinisterly at the sight of them.

Black Jack narrowed his eyes at him. "Ketchum, get the berry," he said. "I'll take care of him."

"Wait a minute," Ash said. "Is he...?"

"Just go, Ketchum!" Black Jack replied angrily.

Granting his request, Ash nodded and told Swellow to continue flying to the top of the mountain while Bluesky carried Black Jack towards his upcoming opponent. Upon landing on one of the mountain cliffs, where the mysterious man was standing, Black Jack called his Salamence back into his pokeball. He then looked at the man with angry eyes. Only he could recognise him.

He was the man who kills others for his own enjoyment. He was the man who admitted that he killed his parents years ago. He was the man who Black Jack faced five years in a literally 'do or die' pokemon battle. Most astonishingly, he was the man who claimed to have lived countless centuries, centuries before Black Jack was born. He was known to him, and only him, as...

"Damien Tusk..." Black Jack snarled.

"It's been a long time, Black Jack," Damien said darkly with a smile. "You look well."  
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More coming! Reviews please! 


	29. Episode 8, Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Warning: Contains blood._

Black Jack and Damien stood a distance away from each other on one of the cliffs of Mt. Frostbite. "What do you want with me this time, Tusk?" Black Jack asked darkly.

"Why ask questions when you already know the answer?" Damien asked back in response.

"If you lay one finger on any of my relatives…" Black Jack snarled.

"Who said that I wanted your relatives?" Damien replied smugly. "I want you and only you."

"Why are you so interested in me?"

"Don't you remember? You have high intention and desire to physically and emotionally hurt others in any way, Black Jack… or shall I call you Joseph?"

Black Jack became confused. "Who? What are you talking about? I'm not Joseph," he said.

"I guess you don't remember," Damien said smugly. "Let's just say that it's something to do with the past."

Black Jack's eyes narrowed in suspicion, thinking that it might some sort of trap. "I have no idea what you're planning," he said as he noticed his pokemon-contained pokeballs beginning to shake vigorously. "Quite frankly, I don't care what your plan is because I have five of my pokemon here, dying to smash your face in."

"Humph. Dying… dying is the correct word for you," Damien said darkly. "Coming to think of it, you have been dying since the day you were born like everyone else with the exception of myself."

"Oh yeah. You got this 'immune to age' thing, right. If your pokemon wasn't immune to pain last time I fought you, I take it that you're not either. Anyway, I didn't come here to chitchat. I want you out."

"Hohoho. How badly do you want me out?"

Black Jack took his pokeball off his belt. "After we're done dealing with your pokemon, we'll cripple every single limb of your body for good," he said. "We'll battle until one of us is out of pokemon."

"Huh, this shouldn't take long," Damien said before taking a pokeball of his own out of his pocket.

"Go!" they both simultaneously as they both tossed their pokeballs out, releasing their respective pokemon.

Meanwhile, Ash and his pokemon were flying above the mountain. Swellow flew down and placed Ash on top of the mountain. "Thanks, Swellow," Ash said before taking out his pokeball and zapping him back inside. "Take a good rest."

He and Pikachu shivered at the cold mountain air as they tried to look for the berry. "Well, Pikachu, we got to hurry," Ash said. "Chan's life is at stake."

"(Yep)," the little rodent squeaked as he leapt off his friend's shoulder. He ran over to a cliff and quickly spotted the berry they were looking for, the Puritay berry, to help cure Chan. "(Jeez. If only we spotted it earlier)," he cooed to himself before calling out to his friend.

Ash turned to his attention and ran over to him. Pikachu pointed downwards to where the berry was. It was a few distances downwards and Black Jack's battle with Damien was happening at the other side of the mountain. "Nice work, Pikachu" Ash said before taking his pokeball off his belt. "Now, I'll just…"

He suddenly stopped, starting to have second thoughts. He decided to let Swellow rest a little longer as he placed the pokeball away before starting to climb down. "(Ash! Are you crazy)!?" Pikachu cried worriedly. "(What if you get hurt)?"

"I'll be fine, old pal," Ash said, giving his long time friend a reassuring wink. "Keep an eye out in case something happens."

Back at the battle scene, Black Jack released Bluesky, his Salamence while Damien sent out a small black bird with yellow beak and talons, known as a Murkrow.

Despite how weak Murkrows appear to be to most human trainers, Black Jack was an exception because he knew what creatures like these are capable of, especially when one of them was trained by his nemesis. "Remember to use more than just your eyes, Bluesky," he said. "We faced a bunch of cheapskate Murkrows before but not this one."

"How right you are," Damien said. "The only pokemon you battled against before were Tombstone and Darkfire when you faced me. But keep in mind that I have been keeping my eye on you."

"(Jack)…" Bluesky growled, partly worried for his trainer yet just as angry he was when he noticed the angry and sadistic look on his face.

Black Jack gnarled his teeth out of anger. "I hate stalkers!" he snarled. "But then I like them for a reason… Bluesky! Dragon Claw! Slash that gutter bird down now!"

Damien chortled. "So basic," he said. "Raven, Double Team and Slash attack."

"(With pleasure, master)," Raven squawked with satisfaction in his voice. At blinding speed, he flew up into the air with several newly created Murkrows following him. Shock appeared on the faces of Black Jack and his Salamence as Raven and his clones quickly hit their talons, beaks and wings on him, allowing no time to do anything but defend himself and leaving with nothing but small gashes on parts of his body.

Bluesky looked down on his hurt parts and saw three gashes on his forelegs. "[Those illusions can do damage too, huh?" Black Jack thought in a surprised way before seeing the other Murkrow clones coming in for their share of the Salamence's flesh at the speed of a shot out bullet.

"Blueksy! Protect yourself!" Black Jack yelled.

Bluesky's eyes glowed as an energy sphere surrounded him, defending him from any further harm. "[Humph. Stalling won't help him," Damien thought, "[Soon, that Protect will disappear."

"[Stay calm, Black Jack," Black Jack thought to himself. "[Getting angry won't help you this time like it usually does." He looked at the speed of Raven's flying, gnarling his teeth with frustration while Bluesky continued defending himself with his Protect move. They faced many pokemon that used Double Team before but never had they faced one that created illusions that could cause such damage and move at such speed.

"(Can't hold it much longer)," the blue dragon growled to himself as he saw his shield beginning to slowly fade away.

"[He's going to get vulnerable," Black Jack thought.

He was correct. One of Murkrows slashed Blusky from behind after the shield vanished completely, causing him a lot physical pain while he let out a roar in pain.

A distance away, Aurora felt a shocking pain in her heart before quickly falling to the floor while clasping her chest. She quickly stood up looking at one of the mountains. "(Bluesky)!" she cried before taking off into the air.

Back at Ash's location, he slowly took a few steps downwards towards his target. Pikachu twitched his ears as he sensed something was about to occur. It turned out that he was correct because suddenly a strong wind and blizzard blew in their direction. Ash quickly reacted by holding tightly to the edgy rocks in the hopes of not letting go but Pikachu's weight couldn't stand the strength of the wind that had occurred, which blew him off the top of the mountain.

With a cry of fright and shock, Pikachu was falling from a very tall height that had a very high possibility of getting him killed. Ash saw this. He quickly reached out and caught his friend with one hand. "It's okay, buddy, I gotcha," he said loudly before bringing his friend close to his chest and tucking him into his jacket while still holding onto the walls. He then looked for the berry again but the blizzard was making things for his sight and movement. He would have to wait until the blizzards ends.

More slashes later, Bluesky was on the verge of passing out from the pain he was suffering from as he fell and crashed to the ground. Covered with scars, cuts and gashes, he slowly stood up to his feet looking at Raven and his illusions still flapping their wings in the sky, ready to attack.

"[I never got this many bad scars since our days in Team Rocket," the blue dragon growled to his friend, panting between words.

"I'm surprised that that Murkrow still have that Double Team move still showing after a long while," Black Jack said. "What's up with that?"

Raven and all of his illusions began diving down on the Salamence. "Bluesky, Endure and concentrate to find the real one," Black Jack commanded quickly. "And power up your next attack."

Bluesky closed his eyes, attempting to sense the real one while tensing and hardening his body the damage the Murkrow was about to cause. Black Jack also closed his eyes and concentrated in order to help his friend find the real one. Despite that Bluesky kept on getting hit continuously, with each cut getting more painful than the last, he still remained in his calm and concentrating state.

Suddenly, they both opened their eyes at the same time. "Bluesky, you know where it is!" Black Jack yelled. "Punk out that Murkrow with your Hyper Beam!"

Bluesky turned around, facing the real Murkrow behind him, releasing a gigantic energy blast out of his mouth. The blast clashed onto the body of Raven, causing an explosion on impact.

Despite that he was wearing shades, Black Jack covered his eyes, shielding them from getting blinded while Damien stood at his spot with no worry or concern on his face. "That was expected," he said with a small smirk on his face.

After the dust had cleared, everyone found Raven lying unconsciously and motionlessly on the floor. The Salamence legs weakly shook after taking all the beatings he received. He soon passed out, collapsing to the floor after taking all that pain. After noticing that, both trainers zapped their pokemon back into their pokeballs.

"Not bad, old friend. Not bad," Damien said, still showing his smirk.

Black Jack just remained silent while he angrily took out another pokemon-contained pokeball.

"What? No compliment? Still cold-hearted like always," Damien said as he took out his. At the same time, they both tossed out their pokeballs releasing their respective pokemon. This time, Black Jack sent out Mike, his Feraligatr while Damien sent out an Alakazam who was holding a giant spoon as though it was a staff while he had several black markings on his face. Both pokemon glared at each other with high intentions of beating the other down.

"Black Jack, meet Pallbearer," Damien said smugly, introducing his Alakazam.

"I know other ways of introducing my pokemon. Mike, Mega Punch!" Black Jack ordered.

"(You got it)!" Mike growled with determination in his voice as he began running towards his opponent while swinging his arm in a circular motion.

"Psybeam, Pallbearer," Damien commanded calmly.

"(Yes, master)," the Alakazam growled in a monotone voice as the tossed his spoon up into the air. It spun round until it halted, pointing at the blue crocodile, much to his puzzlement. Pallbearer quickly aimed his paws towards his opponent and at the same time, he and his spoon blasted out multi-coloured beams at him.

"Roll forward to dodge!" Black Jack yelled.

His Feraligatr did as he was commanded as he did a forward roll, barely avoiding the attack. He quickly stood up and ran towards his opponent, circulating his arm again winding up for his attack. "Reflect, Pallbearer," Damien said.

Still in his same position when he blasted his Psybeam attack but his eyes glowed dark purple for a split second while Mike was centimetres away from slamming his fist into one of Pallbearer's anatomies. "That glow," Black Jack said to himself in suspicion. "Mike, wait!"

It was too late. With raw force, the move connected but it was on an invisible barrier instead Pallbearer himself, who jumped backwards to keep his distance away from his attacker. The barrier shattered, exploding into a white flash, knocking the blue crocodile up into the air. "Now, Pallbearer, teleport and dominate his mind and body," Damien commanded.

"Mike! He's coming at you! Get ready!" Black Jack warned.

Pallbearer quickly surrounded himself in dark energy before jumping to grab his spoon and teleporting right in front of Mike whop was still airborne. Mike quickly retaliated by swinging his fist, aiming at this face but the Alakazam teleported again, this time he was behind him. Mike sensed his presence and quickly swung at him missed as he teleported again, this time he was a distance away. Feraligatr saw him and quickly blasted a huge fountain of water out of his mouth at him but he teleported again.

This continued as Mike kept on swinging his punches and shooting out his Hydro Pump attacks until he landed on the ground. The Feraligatr growled angrily after putting in his efforts in an attempt to knock out the psychic pokemon, which appeared to be futile so far. Pallbearer stood in his spot, not showing his tiredness but confidence despite using his psychic powers multiple times.

"Your Feraligatr displayed some powerful moves, Joseph," Damien said. "But they're proven useless if they don't hit."

"It's Black Jack," his opponent said angrily, correcting him. "Your Alakazam can move fast… but he won't escape the next one."

Mike pounded his fist into his paw with even more determination than before. "Mike!" Black Jack yelled. "Give it your best shot! Whirlwind Uppercut!"

With his powerful arms, Mike swung them both upwards; both so powerful and so quick that he created a huge tornado, much to Pallbearer's shock. "Impressive," Damien. Pallbearer tried to use his weight and whatever strength he had to stand his ground but the tornado was so strong that he got sucked in. Black Jack and Mike used their weight and strength to stand their ground while Damien had his feet glowing vigorously, keeping his feet on the ground.

"We got him, Mike!" Black Jack shouted. "Go after him! Smash his face in!"

"(Way ahead of ya, Jack)!" Mike bellowed before leaping into the whirlwind.

Black Jack and Damien couldn't see what was going on behind the thick cloudiness of the whirlwind. Damien still had look of arrogance while Black Jack gnarled his teeth, still angry with him. They both waited to see what the aftermath would be. Soon, the tornado started to slowly disappear. Soon the tornado became clear, allowing both trainers to see what was happening. What Black Jack saw made him shocked. He was expecting his pokemon to put a heavy beat down on his opponent's, but instead both pokemon were standing a small distance away, completely unharmed while staring at each other.

Puzzlement then came onto Black Jack's face. "[What's going here?" he thought to himself. "[Mike should've knocked the brains out of that Alakzam."

Even though they were standing at a distance away from each other, Black Jack was able to look at Mike's eyes, which appeared to be in some sort of trance. "[Damn! Hypnosis!" he thought, knowing that his pokemon was in big trouble. "Mike! Snap out of it!"

"[(Your mind is now under my power, friend)," Pallbearer sent in a scratchy voice as his glowing eyes glared down into Mike's. "[(You will move away)!"

Mike did as he was absentmindedly commanded, walking backwards and getting closer to the edge of the cliff. "[(Back away! You cannot resist me, you useless weakling)!"

"Mike!" Black Jack yelled to his pokemon, trying to snap him out of this Hypnosis attack.

Suddenly, a loud cry was heard from above, distracting everyone from their battle. They looked up and saw an orange winged dragon coming their way. "Hmm… isn't she a friend of yours, Joseph?" Damien asked smiling evilly.

"Aurora! No one told you to come here!" Black Jack yelled.

While he was distracted, Pallbearer used his psychic abilities to push his opponent off the cliff before releasing his power. Upon his release, Mike's eyes became from vacant to being puzzled. He soon found himself falling down a cliff, yelling out a shocked roar getting Black Jack's attention. "Mike!" he yelled desperately.

"Joseph," Damien called out to him before his opponent could run to where his Feraligatr started falling. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

Black Jack quickly looked up and saw Aurora flying towards him, landing on her feet. "(Black Jack)," she cried, on the verge of tears. "(What happened to Bluesky)?"

"Aurora, now's not the time," Black Jack said, turning his attention to Pallbearer who glowing vigorously. "Unless you want to see if a hole in your gut will improve your figure."

Pallbearer quickly blasted a psychic energy beam towards them. Black Jack retaliated by tackling her down, dodging the beam also. He got on one knee with his hand on her chest. "Look, if you wanna help, Ketchum's looking for the berry to help cure Chan. Go look for him and that berry," he said before standing up. Aurora nodded, acknowledging his command before taking flight to look for her friend.

"Pallbearer, Psybeam attack on that pitiful dragon," Damien commanded. Pallbearer aimed his spoon again, powering up for his attack. "Aren't you going to save your friend?" Damien asked smugly.

"Nope," Black Jack replied smiling back.

Suddenly, a blue blur dashed from the edge of the cliff, heading straight towards the strangely marked Alakazam before grabbing hold of his spoon. It turned out to Mike, who quickly dug his claws into the mountains walls and climbed up to get himself back into the battle scene. "(I'm not done with you yet)!" he growled, trying to snatch the spoon away while allowing Aurora to get away.

"Pallbearer, hypnosis!" Damien commanded.

"I don't think so," Black Jack said with a small smile upon seeing Pallbearer's eyes glowing. His Feraligatr growled the same words the same time his trainer did but in his own language.

Mike slammed his face on his opponent's, stopping him from using his attack while staggering him. "Finish him off with those Mega Punches, Mike!" Black Jack shouted. "Do it now!"

His Feraligatr held his opponent around the midsection, pushing him into the wall with a great force upon collision. He then proceeded to hit him multiple times in the body, arms and face, each with a force of an anvil slamming onto a person's anatomy, smashing and breaking every bone and muscle in his body. All Pallbearer could do was spit out blood and feel the pain.

Mike then held him by the neck as he moved his fist backwards, swinging his arm in circular motion, looking to deliver the final blow to knock him out. Pallbearer's eyes glowed again before some black energy slowly surrounded him out of nowhere. Black Jack's eyes widened with suspicion. "Mike, wait a minute!" Black Jack yelled in alert but it was too late.

With a mighty roar, Mike slammed his fist into the face of Pallbearer, knocking him down to the floor and able to move afterwards while the black energy around slowly disappeared and his eyes stopped glowing. Mike smiled as he turned towards his brain-bashing friend. "(What's there to wait about, Jack)?" he growled, happy with his victory.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain inside his gut. "(What in the)…?" he growled as he clutched tightly to his stomach in shock and in pain. He felt another sharp pain, this time in his arm, followed by his other arm and then his chest. The stinging, wrenching, cramping, and numbing pain was so horrible that he fell on his knees. "(Jack! I'm getting dizzy here)!" Mike growled in pain, holding onto his hurt anatomies and coughing out blood. "(I'm feeling numb)!"

"Destiny Bond," Black Jack said. "After you knocked Pallbearer out, you're suffering the same thing he had. But don't give in! Fight it!"

Mike did as best as he could, trying to withstand the pain. He looked at his friend, with his eyes on the verge of tiredness while the eyesight began to become blurry. "(Jack… can't stay)…" he managed to growl weakly before collapsing to the floor, now totally unconscious.

Black Jack let out a small growl of his own, after seeing his Feraligatr getting beaten up. He and Damien zapped their pokemon back into their pokeballs. "A fine display of surprises there, Joseph, wouldn't you say?" Damien said, showing a bitter smile.

Black Jack glared his narrowed eyes at him in annoyance and still in anger. They both took out their pokeballs, glaring at each other with sadistic eyes before throwing them out. "This will be the Cure to a disease we call 'life'," Damien said.

Back at Ash's location, he was still hanging onto the rocks while getting breezed away by the strong harsh blizzard, trying to avoid letting go and fall at a very long height. He had Pikachu tucked inside his jacket to not only stop him also from falling but to keep him warm. "(Ash)!" Pikachu cried, deeply concerned for his friend's well being.

"Pikachu… I don't know how much longer I can hold on," Ash said, gnarling his teeth with struggle in his voice. His hands and fingers became numb and cold. What was worse than that was that they were on the verge of slipping away.

One of his hands slipped downwards, which was caught by a pokemon's paw, much to his surprise. "Who's there?" he shouted.

"(It's me)!" cried a familiar voice.

"Aurora!?" Ash cried. "How did you…?"

"(Let me help you)!" she cried as she quickly struggled to climb to cover Ash's body after placing his hand back on the rocky walls.

"Aurora, what about you!?" Ash asked loudly through the loud winds.

"(I'll be okay. This is the least I could do)," Aurora cooed reassuringly as she completely covered him with her large body, protecting him from any further harm from the cold and harsh snowstorm.

Suddenly, an explosion occurred, much to their shock, followed by two objects speeding past them. "(What was that)?" Pikachu cried.

"I think I can guess," Ash replied.

As they had guessed, Hardshell the Metagross was chasing a shelled bug-like creature called a Shedinja, named Cure, in the air around the mountain, neither of them getting fazed by the blizzard. Without their trainers to control them when they were at a different location, it was hard for their pokemon to see what the opposition's plan was.

Hardshell was blasting a number of black energy balls out of its eyes to do some damage on the ghost bug to no avail as the Shedinja kept on dodging the attacks. "(Hey! You're really speeding things up)," Metagross growled as it kept on following the opposition. He blasted out his Shadow Ball attack again, this time hitting the enemy causing an explosion upon impact.

"(Got ya)!" the Metagross growled with triumph in its voice. He quickly sensed an energy incoming attack coming from behind at a fast pace. He had no choice but to use his Protect move, which he had to summon up a barrier to protect himself from harm. The dark energy collided on the barrier, causing a big bang and shattering the barrier in the process. It quickly turned around to see if the enemy was there, which wasn't there anymore.

Hardshell looked around trying to see where the enemy was. He saw another Shadow Ball coming his way, coming out of the blizzard though it knew who was blasting it out. This time, it dodged the attack by flying upwards. He sensed another fast Shadow Ball coming his way at a different angle, quickly yet barely dodging the attack.

This continued on for a small amount of time until Hardshell thought up of a plan. Its eyes glowed vigorously red, attempting to catch Cure behind the thick blizzard while still dodging the Shadow Ball attacks. His Foresight move could see through many hidden places and find the real enemy in case of a trick, catching his opponent out. This was no exception as he saw his opponent hiding away from him. He quickly blasted two more of his Shadow Balls out of his eyes towards the ghost bug. The move collided, causing an explosion on impact but Metagross was sure that it wouldn't finish it off. He quickly turned around sensed that the Shedinja was behind him and turned around to fire another double Shadow Ball attack.

Meanwhile, the blizzard was starting to clear as Ash, Pikachu and Aurora were hanging on for dear life. "Great, the blizzard's going," Ash said calmly. "That means it'll be easier to find that berry."

"Shedinja," buzzed a voice.

They turned to the voice's attention and saw a Shedinja floating behind them as it began to glow vigorously dark. "Get away from it Aurora," Ash warned quickly realising that it was about to do.

"(I don't think so)," growled another pokemon's voice.

This time it was Hardshell slamming his body onto Cure's, sending him flying. He knew that Cure was up to something.

"Thanks!" Ash yelled after letting out a small sigh of relief. The pokemon said the same word but in their own language.

"(Get the berry)!" Metagross growled loudly before zooming at his opponent while the blizzard became totally clear.

Aurora looked down and saw a white berry attached to a white stem, which grew out of one of the cliffs. "(There it is)!" she cried in.

"(Then let's go get it)!" Pikachu cried.

Back at Black Jack's location, he and Damien looked up to the sky watching Hardshell and Cure battle. The Metagross swung its legs, knocking his opponent about. It knew that Shedinjas are invincible against all attack unless they're super effective against it, thanks to their Wonder Guard ability. It also knew that the different types of attacks Shedinja were weak against were fire, ghost, dark and rock. Despite all that, Hardshell was enjoying smashing its opponent up physically for long minutes, much to Black Jack's hidden glee.

Because they were so high up, neither trainer could yell out their commands because they were out of hearing distance. But Damien had his own way of commanding. "[Double Team again, Cure," Damien said telepathically to his pokemon. "[Circle around your prey."

Hardshell aimed his steel leg one more time at his opponent. It missed when Cure barely dodge out of the way before glowing energetically and a number of Shedinja illusions began appearing, forming a ball around the steel-bodied monster. "(That's fast)!" the Metagross growled in surprise.

Ash was on the cliff with Aurora and Pikachu, pulling off the berry off its stem. "Got it," Ash said.

"(Great! Now we can help Black Jack)," Aurora cooed.

"(We can't do that right now, Aurora)," Pikachu squeaked. "(Chan needs that berry right now)."

"He's right," Ash said. "Besides, if I know Black Jack, he doesn't want our help."

"(Why's that)?" Aurora cooed.

"Black Jack is Black Jack. He always does things his way. Another thing is that the guy can be dangerous. You wouldn't want Bluesky see you hurt, would you?"

Aurora looked down in shame, saddened that he couldn't help Bluesky and his friends in this battle scene, feeling quite useless. Seeing the sadness on her face, Ash placed on her shoulder to comfort her. "C'mon. We got to take this berry to Chan to get him healed," he said.

"(I'll take you back there)," she cooed as she lowered her body to the ground to allow Ash and Pikachu to get on her back.

Ash was about to get on her back but he saw the ball of Shedinjas, surrounding the surprised Metagross. "Oh no," he said with worry in his voice, catching the attention of his friends. "Hardshell…"

Black Jack couldn't believe his eyes either, as he saw a giant ball of Shedinja illusions beginning to form around his Metagross at a fast pace. "[Damn it! Without me to help him, he's in big trouble," Black Jack he thought to himself. "Get yourself out of there, Hardshell!" he yelled in desperation.

Hardshell found itself in the center of trouble, for he found himself surrounded by the ball of Shedinjas. "(This is going to get rough)," he growled to himself.

He was correct. The real Shedinja and its illusions began blasting their Shadow Ball attacks. Metagross had no choice but to dodge them. However, dodging them proved to be futile as the numbers game caught up with it. One of the attacks hit it from behind, forcing him to let out a grunt in pain while the other dark energy balls followed the first Shadow Ball's example.

Black Jack, Ash and their pokemon friends looked on with wide shocked eyes, hearing more explosions. Soon, the exploding sounds stopped. The bottom of the ball opened, releasing the motionless and burnt covered Metagross while it unconsciously fell through the air, face first, while all the illusions that Cure made disappeared.

Hardshell sensed the disappearances as it opened quickly opened one eye before quickly turning around blasting out his Shadow Ball attack. Cure couldn't react to the high speed of the incoming dark energy ball. The attack smashed onto Cure's empty shell body, causing an explosion on impact. It fell down from the smoke, now also covered with burnt marks.

Hardshell was first to crash to the ground of the mountain's cliff, then it was Cure's. Black Jack rushed towards Hardshell to check on him. "Hardshell, talk to me," Black Jack said.

"(Don't take me out, coach)," Hardshell growled weakly.

"You did good there, bud," Black Jack said, taking his pokeball out and zapping his Metagross back inside. "Back inside."

"Not so sentimental, eh, Joseph?" Damien asked while zapping Cure back into his pokeball. "Still, I sensed your heart was saying more words of great concern to your pokemon and they felt it… pity that your heart will be your downfall after all of this ends."

"Don't count on it," Black Jack said as he stood up. "Sure, you have three pokemon left and I have two. Still, each round we had ended in a draw. Also, you might get a little surprise afterwards."

"First time for everything but I doubt that."

"Black Jack!" yelled a voice from above.

Black Jack and Damien looked up and saw Ash and Pikachu riding on Aurora's back. "We got the berry!" Ash yelled.

"Don't just float there, Ketchum!" Black Jack yelled being impatiently angry. "Get back to the pokemon center already!"

"Hmm… perhaps I could add more to the taste in this situation," Damien said as he took out his pokeball.

Sensing the danger, Black Jack ran towards him and leapt in the air. He attempted a jumping kick but the opposition jumped out of the way, avoiding the kick. "Temper, temper," Damien said smugly as Black Jack landed on his feet. "Can't I have a little fun?"

"You're dealing with me, ain't ya!" Black Jack snarled angrily before turning to his associates. "Ketchum, get out of here!"

"You got it! Go! Go!" Ash yelled before they flew out of the scene. He looked back one more time, seeing the man who was once a criminal and now a changed man but still had his sadistic attitude yet someone who people and pokemon alike respect. "Good luck, Black Jack," he whispered.

Black Jack and Damien looked at each other with different eyes. Black Jack looked at him with angry, and sadistic eyes filled with hate, showing that he wouldn't think twice about crippling the enemy and his pokemon, or just anything to see the last of him. Damien on the other hand had a look of smugness and confidence; he had intentions of killing Black Jack after seeing how angry he was when he learned about the death of his blood parents when he was child; that included of how cold, sick, maniacal and twisted he was during his Team Rocket years.

At the same time, they both took out their next pokeball. "Wait a second," Black Jack said. "Can I ask you a question just in case either one of us don't get another chance?"

"Go on," Damien replied.

"If you do manage to kill me, what are you going to do next?"

"I think you can guess."

Black Jack's eyes widened in shock, knowing what that meant. He looked down to the ground for a number of seconds. "Heh," he grunted before laughing an evil chortle. He held his head up, looking more evil than usual. "Bad move," he said darkly with an evil smile.

They both stood in their spots for long seconds. "You're cracked," Black Jack said as he and Damien simultaneously threw out their pokeballs.  
------------------------------  
More coming! Reviews please!

Question out of curiosity: What kind of songs could/would you relate the characters/fic with and why? 


	30. Episode 8, Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_Warning: Contains blood. Viewer's discretion is advised._

Black Jack and Damien tossed their pokeballs out, releasing one of their remaining pokemon. In this situation, Black Jack had two pokemon remaining after three of the six were knocked and one of them badly injured, badly in need of the cure. Damien on the other hand had three pokemon left, leaving him with the advantage over his opponent. Damien wished to face Black Jack in this pokemon battle after seeing him fight many trainers throughout the years, and kill him if he lost. Black Jack badly wants to cripple his nemesis after what he did to his blood parents and his friend Chan.

Bright energies were blasted out of their opened pokeballs. Spike the Nidoking materialised after being released from Black Jack's while a large blue jellyfish like creature with brown tentacles and red orbs emerged from Damien's. "A Tentacruel," Black Jack murmured to himself.

For as long as he could remember, Tentacruels were dual water and poison type pokemon while Nidokings were poison and ground types so their defences would be weak against any water type attack. But having trained Spike in harsh environments for a very long time, Black Jack knew that his friend wouldn't go down easily. But he also knew that any pokemon trained by his nemesis would not be so easily beaten.

"What's wrong? Not wanting to start, Joseph?" Damien sneered. "Allow me then. Bloodbath, whip that pitiful Nidoking down."

"Dodge those tentacles, Spike," Black Jack ordered warningly.

The huge Tentacruel raised his front tentacles up and then slammed them down, aiming for the Poison Pin monster but missed when he dodged each one. Spike kept on running, dodging each incoming tentacle until he was at a good distance to land a punch on his opponent. But it turned out that landing this attack was futile as the jellyfish pokemon dodged out of the way, making Spike smash a small piece of the wall instead. "Behind you!" Black Jack warned.

Spike turned around, saw more tentacles coming his way and dodged them as well. He kept on dodging until one of them caught his leg, tripping him over, making him hit the ground face first. Spike quickly recovered and saw the tentacle wrapped around his leg. Black Jack spotted it also and sensed great danger coming.

"Stand your ground, Spike," Black Jack commanded. "Don't let that Tentacruel throw you about. Throw him around instead."

"(You got it)!" Nidoking growled loudly as he grabbed hold of the tentacle that was holding his leg before Massacre got the chance to dismember him. They both now caught in a tug-of-war, where they would have to pull to gain advantage on the weaker pokemon.

Damien couldn't help but sn_i_gger. "Have you forgotten that Tentacruels have more than just one tentacle at his disposal?" he asked. "If you're having trouble with one of those, I'd love to see how your Nidoking deals with the others. Bloodbath, if you please."

Black Jack and Spike let out their small grunts, mentally cursing this situation before Bloodbath lashed and stretched out his tentacles at Spike. At the last split second, Nidoking released his grip on the tentacle that was already wrapped around his leg to defend himself from his opponent's attack.

The Nidoking knocked away each tentacle that was coming at him, defending himself while still using his lower body strength and weight to help keep from being thrown about by one of tentacles that was already holding his leg.

"[Hmm… both of these guys are giving a great deal of energy," Black Jack thought after seeing Spike blocking the speedy attacks for a while. "[I need to think up something…"

He looked at Nidoking's caught leg and smiled, snapping his fingers, sounding as though he figured it out. He knew that Bloodbath was trying to pull Spike towards but Spike was pulling back also, trying to not get thrown and slammed about. So if, Nidoking was to let go…

"Spike, Horn Drill!" he commanded.

"(It's about time)!" Nidoking roared, as he leapt forward, aiming his horn at Bloodbath with great velocity thanks to the momentum of both battlers.

"Oldest trick in the book," Damien said with a smile. "Dodge and slam him, Bloodbath."

Bloodbath did as his master told him to as he swung Spike towards the wall. "Bounce off that wall, Spike!" Black Jack yelled.

"(Got it)!" Spike roared back as he was using his strong paws and arms to bounce back at his opponent. With lightning speed and both of these battlers current momentum, he gotten himself closer to him, ready to spear him in the face.

But suddenly, he stopped in mid-air. Before he realised it, Bloodbath's other tentacles caught his arms and legs. "Oh crud," Black Jack said, knowing what was coming next. Spike growled the same words but in his native language.

As they expected, the cold Tentacruel lifted his heavy body high up into the air, almost as if he was taunting him. "Well done catching him, Bloodbath," Damien said with an evil smile on his face. "Now crush him."

Bloodbath swung Spike into the mountain wall, making him crash into it. A huge of rubble above the Nidoking crumbled and fell right in top of him, completely covering his entire body.

Still holding onto him, Bloodbath lifted him again, getting him out of the rubble, until he was a distance close to him and glared at him nastily while Spike tried to shake the dizziness out of his head. He was now at his mercy. After shaking away his dizziness, Spike glared back at Bloodbath. "(C'mon then, Sloppy)!" Nidoking snarled bitterly. "(I'm waiting)!"

"Let the torture begin," Damein said, before lightly clapping his hands once, signalling for the merciless beating to commence.

Black Jack could only watch with narrowed eyes, cursing himself while the Tentacruel blasted hundreds of small spikes of poison out of his mouth. Spike grunted in pain as the pins penetrated into his hard shell body. However, Black Jack wouldn't give up that easily. "Spike! Use your body strength to get rid of those pins!" he ordered.

Spike did as he was ordered as he found the body strength to get rid of them, making fall to the ground. "(You think you can just beat me with those small poison tacks)?" he growled, knowing that he was a poison type himself.

Suddenly, he felt a big sting in his arm, then his gut, and then other parts of his anatomies. He cringed and grunted at each numbing pain he suffered. "(What's going on)!?" he roared.

"This isn't right!" Black Jack yelled. "What are you doing, Tusk!?"

"Don't you know?" Damien said smugly. "There are many types of poison that can neutralise and dispose each other. As it turns out, my Tentacruel's poison has begun neutralising your Nidoking's, and putting the pain into his entire body."

"(Jack)!" Spike roared to his friend after he fell to his knees. "(Don't give in! We got out of tighter squeezes than this)!"

"I know that, Spike! Fight the pain!" Black Jack yelled.

While still holding onto the arms and legs of the Nidoking, Bloodbath blasted a huge fountain of water out of his mouth. The massive water attack splashed all over him. Spike had to close his eyes tightly, stopping the water getting into them. "(Huh! I may be a ground type but water attacks can't harm me)!" the Nidoking growled proudly.

"I'm afraid that this isn't just any water attack," Damien said smugly.

Spike soon felt the stings, more painful than the time he was hit by Bloodbath's Poison Pin attack. He roared painfully as he fell down to his knees, much to Black Jack's concern. "Spike!" he yelled.

"You see, Joseph, not only did this poisonous water sting the outside skin of your Nidoking but it also stung the organs when some of entered the parts where the pins struck," Damien explained.

Black Jack gnarled his teeth, seething with anger and frustration, after taking at Damien while he was explaining the water attack. Suddenly, he felt Spike's spark of emotion in his heart and mind. An angry type of emotion, much to his surprise. For as long as he had known him, Spike was the most concerned pokemon of the group and, and as much as Nidoking loved to fight, getting angry would be the last thing on his mind.

Feeling rather weak, Spike slowly stood up on his feet with his head hanging low because of the he suffered. He slowly raised it up, looking at Black Jack's direction. They both nodded before Spike turned towards his opponent. "(Like me, you're high on your loyal stuff and I'll give you that)," he growled sinisterly as a small spark appeared on his chest. "(Having said that… you're done)."

More electrical sparks flowed around Spike's body, signalling that he was powering up for his next attack. Shock and fear showed in Bloodbath's eyes. He tried to loosen his grip but Spike held onto them, still having the strength left in him. The tide had turned, now that he had him in his grasp. "(You know what happens when a jellyfish gets hit by lightning)?" Spike growled.

The Tentacruel looked at his master, who showed no emotion. "Pretty much the same thing as everything else," Black Jack replied, looking at Damien in disgust. "When you're done charging up… electrocute him."

Nidoking made his eyes thin as he glared at his upcoming victim. He let out a loud roar, unleashing his Thunderbolt attack from his body. The stream of lighting spread across Bloodbath's tentacles, electrocuting him into pain and then into unconscious.

The attack didn't only inflict pain and damage on the water type pokemon. Spike was also affected, thanks to water attack that was splashed on him earlier. He loosened his grip on the tentacles and dropped them to the floor. His mind was swirling and his eyes became blurry after taking in the pain he suffered from Bloodbath and himself.

"Spike…" Black Jack said worriedly.

"(Cuckoo)…" Spike managed to growl giddily before collapsing face first to the floor, becoming totally unconscious, passing out from the pain.

Black Jack took his pokeball out and zapped Spike back in while glaring at Damien, still in disgust that he doesn't appreciate the worth of his pokemon. Damien did the same, returning his respective pokemon.

"You know, you disrespecting your pokemon doesn't make me like you any better," Black Jack said. "Instead, I hate you even more."

"Which makes things more interesting," Damien said as he took another pokeball out.

Meanwhile at the pokemon center, Ash, Pikachu and Aurora were arriving back to that location. Their friends ran out of the building to welcome them back. "I got the berry! Ash announced.

"Wait, Ash!" Alice said, noticing that someone was missing. "Where's…"

We got to get it to Nurse Joy right now!" Ash said as he ran through the crowd.

As fast as he could, he quickly gave it the nurse, who promised that she would do as best as she could to help Chan recover after announcing that they had little time left. As she quickly walked back into the emergency room, Ash' friends walked up to him, with Alice in front. "Ash…" she said worriedly. Ash slowly turned around with great concern. "Where's my uncle?" she asked.

"He's out there fighting," Ash replied. "It must be the guy who hurt Chan."

Alice placed her hand over her mouth, and shook nervously. She was on the verge of tears. "I have to go after him," she said, turning towards the exit.

"No!" Ash said as he grabbed hold of her hand, stopping her from going. "He doesn't want you to get hurt like Chan did."

"But… my uncle… I promised my parents…" Alice murmured.

"Don't worry, Alice!" Jerry said with encouragement. "The boss and his pokemon are the toughest guys around. I have no doubt that he'll beat that twisted freak!"

"I agree. We have to be strong for him," Keith said. "Don't forget, Black Jack took out that Team Missile base when you were you were held prisoner there."

"I know… but he's fighting out there…" Alice sobbed, struggling to speak out. "Against someone who hurt Chan badly. I just… I just can't live with myself if something happens to him."

"Let's give him time," Ash said. "If he's not back in fifteen minutes, we'll go get him."

"Hey, guys," Misty whispered to her friends. "I think there are more reasons for Black Jack to fight all alone out there."

"I guess so," Brock said. "Maybe Black Jack has some grudge against that guy. Maybe a big one."

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" May asked.

"All I can say is that this place could some more emergency rooms available," Max replied.

Misty let out a small sigh of concern. "Yeah… there are a lot of things I'm wishing for right now. Black Jack to be safe, Alice to know that he's safe…" she said.

"Good idea, fellas," Isaac said with an optimistic smile. "Let's keep on wishing."

Meanwhile, two pokeballs opened releasing two more pokemon back at Mt. Frostbite. They turned out to be two Tyranitars, one, named Snake, belonging to Black Jack and the other was Damien's. Damien's Tyranitar was different in appearance compared to Black Jack's. Apart from having a green hard shell body with a purple chest, he was brown-skinned with a green center, along with a scar across his chest.

"I'm sure I don't need to introduce Tombstone to you," Damien said smugly.

"True. Snake broke his skull open the last time they met," Black Jack replied.

They both noticed that the two Tyranitars walked towards each other until they were close enough to stand face to face. They too remembered their last battle against each other. The intensity between them was so thick that the atmosphere could be cut down with a Slash attack. They stared each other down for long seconds until their trainers simultaneously ordered out their next command.

"Take him," Black Jack said.

"Kill him," Damien said.

Snake and Tombstone began heavily and viciously pounding each other's faces with their hard stone paws with neither trainer telling them to stop. That was until Snake became first to become a little dizzy allowing his opponent to relentlessly pound him even more. Soon, Snake's hit the wall after much staggering. Tombstone pulled his clenched paw back, ready to deliver the final blow.

His next devastating attack connected indeed but into the wall, making a hole in it when Snake ducked down, hitting him in the back and into the wall. Tombstone tried to get his paw out of the wall but it was stuck.

Behind him, Snake's eyes glowed energetically dark as he showed a sinister smile, slowly moving his paws up readying his next attack. Tombstone struggled to pull his paw out of the wall but it was stuck. "You're now gonna see why I'm called Snake," the green Tyranitar growled.

Despite that it was quite a distance between Snake and his opponent, Snake's short arms stretched out like a Seviper that would stretch out to attack and kill a small Pidgey at a fast pace. With great velocity, strength and sharp claws, he relentlessly hit Tombstone in the back constantly from the start. Tombstone grunted in pain a number of times after taking the hits.

Soon, Tombtone had bruises and cuts all over his back. He flopped down to the floor and the wall after taking a heavy beating from Black Jack's green dinosaur, with his paw still stuck inside the hole.

Snake moved his clenched paw backwards ready to deliver another blow, hard enough to knock his opponent out. He quickly went for it after Tombstone fully stood after a small struggle but missed after Tombstone quickly ducked down after sensing his opponent coming close to him, making him slam his paw into the wall instead. Tombstone quickly grabbed around Snake's midsection from behind and lifted him up into the air and over his head, shaping his body into a bridge before slamming his head and neck onto the ground, almost breaking his neck.

The impact made Snake's upped body bounce off the ground. He held on to his head in pain after feeling the crash. Mercilessly, Tombsone picked him up and swung him around in a horizontal circular motion before throwing him into the wall again. Snake crashed into it and a huge pile of rocks crumbled above and fell on top of him.

Quickly taking the advantage while Snake struggled to get out of the rubble, Tombstone powered up his next attack, Hyper Beam, as a glowing ball of energy grew inside his jaws. Soon, he blasted his fully charged beam at the rubble. The attack connected causing a huge explosion upon impact. He smiled sinisterly, confident that he finished his opponent. Suddenly, he felt a fist slamming underneath his chin, courtesy of Snake who managed to escape while Tombstone was shooting out his attack.

Both Black Jack and Damien just stood their grounds, watching their pokemon fight each without giving any orders. Their respective Tyranitars were more than capable enough to beat each other senseless.

That hard shot knocked him down, flat on his back. He then saw his opponent jumping into the air, about to hit his next attack. Tombstone quickly turned to his chest, slamming his tail into Snake's face before the Body Slam attack could reach him.

Snake staggered, holding his dizzy face in reaction to getting hit by Tombstone's Tail Slam attack. The opposition took advantage as he ran towards him before grabbing his neck, trying to choke him out. "I'll rip your neck out!" Tombstone growled.

"(Not if I break yours first)," Snake growled back. Using his great strength, Snake managed to pull Tombtone's paws away from his neck. He then hurled him over his shoulder, sending him flying until he crashed into the ground face first.

Tombstone quickly stood up on his feet, holding his hurt face. Snake took his chance as he ran towards him, wanting to smash his clenched paw into his face. Tombstone snapped into recovery seeing Snake coming his way. At the last second, he ducked down making Snake miss his shot and then he used the strength of his own body and Snake's momentum to lift and tossed Snake into the wall. Snake's back crashed into the wall before his head fell and harshly hit the ground.

Snake roared in pain after taking those two bad hits as he clutched onto his head. Smiling sinisterly, Tombstone grabbed hold of his enemy's head and started pounding on it, causing more damage to it. Soon, Snake's body became motionless, unable to defend himself. His eyes became vacant-like.

"(Pathetic)!" Tombstone growled before shoving his head to the ground after he realised this. He turned towards Black Jack with a sadistic smile, knowing the stipulation of having him killed if all of his pokemon were defeated.

Black jack was smiling too but for a different reason. "You're not done yet," he said before pointing behind Tombstone. "Look."

Tombstone looked behind him, seeing Snake's motionless body lying prone on his back. He suddenly sat up, now showing his angry eyes before he slowly stood up on his feet.

Snake and Tombstone had locked eyes once again before slowly walking towards each while Black Jack and Damien looked on, still not giving any commands. The two Tyranitars exchanged blows to the head a number of times before Tombstone became dizzy again, staggering backwards.

Snake took the opportunity of this staggering as he hit Tombstone a few more times for good measure before he jumped backwards. He slid across the floor and was about to deliver the finishing blow to Tombstone's head. The attack missed however when Tombstone ducked down, split seconds away before he could get hit.

Snake quickly turned around to attack again but Tombstone grabbed him by the throat, trying to choke the life of the green dinosaur. Snake retaliated by doing the same as he grabbed Tombstone's neck, also trying to choke him out.

For long minutes, both behemoths were on the verge of passing out after squeezing each other's air out using their bare paws. Their eyes glowed energetically, as they summoned up their next attack while holding on. Soon, sparks of electricity showed up on both of their bodies. Soon, they were fully powered up. With both monsters up close and personal they both let a loud roar blasting huge sparks of lighting out of their bodies. Both attacks collided, causing a huge explosion upon impact.

Both Black Jack and Damien had their eyes shut tightly, protecting them from the blinding light, dust and dirt from the explosion. When the battle scene became clear, they both saw their respective Tyranitars lying motionlessly on the floor. It came to no surprises between the two trainers. Damien showed a small smirk while Black Jack showed no emotion.

Then, to their surprise, Snake slowly started moving to stand up on his feet, not showing any signs of giving up. Black Jack smiled. He had always been proud of Snake's guts and strength since childhood. In fact, he was proud of all the pokemon he carried on his belt because they fought their guts for him, like what they did in this battle.

He took his pokeball out, and aimed it at Snake. He zapped him back into his pokeball. "Tombstone is wiped out. Leave the rest to me… my friend," he said. He felt that it was now his turn to do the same as his pokemon did.

"You're returning your Tyranitar?" Damien asked, slightly surprised. "You're admitting defeat? That means that you have no more pokemon, therefore you lose and must pay the ultimate price of your life: Death."

Black Jack smiled evilly. "You're not returning yours?" he asked as he placed Snake's pokeball away while Damien stared down on his injured Tyranitar still showing his confident smirk. "Tombstone can't go any further like Snake can. Besides, just because I'm out of pokemon, it doesn't mean I'll go down that easily, Tusk."

He unzipped his black leather jacket and took it off, tossing it aside, revealing a tight black t-shirt… and a steel sledgehammer. He had his weapon tucked in between his belt and jeans while keeping it hidden underneath his jacket. He pulled his weapon out and rested it on his shoulder, glaring down on the back of Tombstone while he struggled to get to his feet while Damien looked on.

When Tombstone fully stood up, Black Jack was standing behind him as he held his up sledgehammer up into the air. Tombstone looked at his master, who still showed his smirk. Dazed and confused, he turned around and saw the weapon smashing into his face with a thunderous impact of a car crashing into a wall, courtesy of the man who was showing no remorse throughout this whole battle, Black Jack. Tombstone laid prone and motionless on the ground after being knocked down and out. "Pretty much expected from you, Tusk," Black Jack said, very disgusted. "Not protecting your pokemon that acted like your messengers, spies, bodyguards and all that garbage," he continued bitterly, remembering Damien allowing Tombstone to get beaten down the last time they battled.

"I granted them their powers," Damien said. "They're nothing but my pawns."

"You make me sick," Black Jack said angrily resting his sledgehammer on his shoulder again. "Get Darkfire out here so I can make a feather duster out of that stupid bird."

"As you wish," Damien said as he took his pokeball out before throwing it out. "Come out, Darkfire," he commanded.

Dark energy materialised into Darkfire after being released from his pokeball. He stood with his arms folded, looking at his upcoming opponent with confident eyes. "(So… now I'm your opponent, Black Jack)?" he growled before noticing the sledgehammer. "(Are you so pathetic that you're using a weapon)?"

In response, Black Jack tossed his weapon aside. "(I see. So you decided to give up on yourself)?" Darkfire growled.

"No, Darkfire," Black Jack replied as he placed his clenched fist into the palm of his other hand, making some small bone breaking sounds. "I only used a sledgehammer to help finish off Tombstone… but I don't need it to beat your ."

They stood a distance from each other, staring each other down for a few seconds. Black Jack decided to move first, taking a few steps towards him before slowly speeding up and started to run. Darkfire waited while going into his fighting stance, ready to counter any move Black Jack was about to use. With a mighty yell, Black Jack swung his fist at his opponent's face but Darkfire dodged the attack as jumped and grabbed hold of his wrist. He flipped over, aiming his kick on Black Jack's but missed after the attack was dodged. Despite missing his target he landed on his feet releasing his enemy's wrist.

Darkfire quickly turned around, seeing Black Jack's fist coming right towards his face with great speed. But the attack missed as the dark Blaziken dodged out of the way with a sly smile on his face. "[(An opening)," he thought as he aimed his Slash attack towards the opposition's arm.

Black Jack quickly retaliated as he kicked him in the lower leg making him grunt with hurt and move slightly backwards. The man in black jumped backwards awaiting his opponent's next attack, also aware of Darkfire's poisonous abilities.

As he did that, Darkfire dashed forward and attempted to land a bunch of kicks on him, each with a speed of shot out bullets. Despite this incredible speed, Black Jack kept moving backwards while carefully but speedily dodging each one. He took one more skip backwards to give himself room between himself and his enemy. "[Gotta counter one or else I'm dead meat," Black Jack thought to himself. He relied on gut instinct to find which one of Darkfire's kicks would land. "[Face!" he thought forming his arms into an X in front of his face a split second away before the kick landed.

Black Jack smiled after blocking the attack, much to Darkfire's surprise. Black Jack shoved the leg down while slamming his shoulder into the enemy's midsection, sending him flying but Darkfire quickly recovered when he safely landed on his paws before doing a back flip "([He moves quickly despite what's happening to him)," Darkfire thought before landing on his feet. He saw Black Jack rushing towards him again and prepared himself.

At a split second, Black Jack surprised him again as he jumped backwards. Black Jack motioned for him to attack. "Come and get me if you got guts," Black Jack said.

"(With pleasure)," Darkfire said a sly smile on his face before quickly vanishing into thin air.

"He's pretty speedy," Black Jack whispered to himself. "And he's right behind me!" he yelled as he quickly spun round attempting a back fist punch but missed, much to his bewilderment after he noticed that he wasn't there when he should've been. "What? I'm faster than that. And he was right behind me," he said to himself.

"(Correction)," Darkfire growled. "(I'm still behind you).'

Black Jack let out a confused grunt before seeing a clenched fist coming into his face. That fist slammed into his face, making Black Jack let out a painful grunt while staggering. Darkfire then continued his assault by slamming his slamming his foot into the human's gut, making him lose a lot of breath and bend over, before grabbing him by the head, digging his claws into his head and slamming it to the ground with thunderous impact, engulfing him in dark purple flames.

Black Jack quickly and instinctively rolled around, putting the flames out of his body before getting into a kneeling position, looking angrily at Darkfire, who slowly walked towards him with a bitter smile. He began to breathe heavily as his eyesight became slightly blurry before he gave his face a small rub with his fingers. He looked at them and small a droplet of blood. To him, that meant one thing. "Poisoned," he said to himself. He remembered that he was being puzzled when he attempted his attack on Darkfire, why he was confused and slow simultaneously. He looked at his arm and saw a few scratches. He remembered having to counter Darkfire's Slash and kick attacks. "By claws and talons," he said to himself with a smile. "Smart."

His head began to feel incredibly numb and dizzy, forcing him to instinctively place his hands on his head in pain letting out some growling. His legs shook as he tried to stand up on his own two feet. When he stood fully up and shook away the pain, he looked up and saw Dakrfire diving towards him, aiming his claws at his face. Black Jack blocked his incoming claws but it turned out to be a decoy. Darkfire did a handstand cartwheel manoeuvre before getting into a seated position on his enemy's shoulders. "([Break your neck)," Darkfire thought sinisterly when he went to quickly wrap his legs around Black Jack's head, in an attempt to twist and break his neck but they were both blocked. Darkfire then attempted to his paws to grab Black Jack's head from above but that too was also blocked, much to his surprise.

Using great force, Darkfire used his arms to spin Black Jack around before leaping off him and landing on his feet. He then proceeded to leap towards him, relentless, violently and repeatedly kicking him in the chest while in mid-air, each hit with a force of a heavy metal object crashing violently into a random anatomy, until his last kick sent him crashing into the mountain wall with a grunt of hurt.

After having his back crashing into the wall, Black Jack fell to his knees, placing his arms on his chest with his eyes tightly shut in pain. Despite having a strong ribcage, the muscles and lungs were badly hurt, thanks to the poison and damaged caused by Darkfire's kicks.

He struggled to get his feet until he stood fully up, now with his back leaning against the wall, quicker than the last time he tried to get to his feet. He immediately saw Darkfire's talons coming to his face, attempting to smash his face into the walls. As quick as a blink, Black Jack ducked down, dodging Darkfire's attack before slamming an uppercut underneath his beak, knocking him away.

After a short moment's stagger, Darkfire rubbed his hurt lower beak. "I like it when guys like you second guess me," Black Jack with an arrogant smile.

"(You're still)…?" Darkfire growled in confusion, surprised that Black Jack could still keep going after taking a lot of damage and poison.

"That is what to be expected from him," Damien said to himself with a smirk. "This is something I've been waiting for. Now, I want to see it… his other side… again."

Black Jack motioned for Darkfire to come and attack him. "Why are you standing there?" he asked impatiently, feeling the blood flowing from out of his gashes, which somehow made him feel energised. "Come and get me, stupid!"

Darkfire's eyes turned towards his master's direction and smiled. He knew what he wished for and vowed to himself that it would be delivered no matter what the cost. He turned his eyes back to his opponent before rushing at him.

Back at the pokemon center, Alice was frantically walking from one side of the corridor to the other, deeply concerned for her uncle Black Jack and his pokemon while everyone was waiting patiently, yet eagerly, for the operation to end and for Black Jack to safely return.

Tears began to form in her eyes; she felt that if anything happened to him she would never forgive herself, no matter how firm, angry and strict Black Jack was with her. "I can't let him do this anymore!" she screamed before rushing to the exit.

That outburst caught everyone's attention with shocked results. "Alice! Wait!" Jerry yelled as he, Keith and Ash quickly followed her.

As she reached the exit, she kept on running into the forest, not caring who was following her. "Alice! Wait up!" Keith yelled. "You can't do this…"

Alice suddenly stopped after hearing those words and stood in that spot for a few seconds. She quickly turned in anger with tears flowing from her eyes, looking as though she would lash out on anybody at any second. "What made you think I can't do this!?" she yelled.

"I'm saying that you can't do this alone," Keith said. "That's why we're here to help you and Black Jack."

Aurora flew into the scene after Keith said those words. Everyone agreed to that small speech. They all noticed how dangerous this enemy was after seeing Chan's defeat, even by Black Jack's calibre, maybe more.

"Guys... thank you," Alice said with a smile.

Meanwhile, Black Jack let out a loud yell when he swung his fist towards Dakfire's face but missed when Darkfire dodged out of the way before viciously slamming his fist right into his gut before hitting his brutal uppercut right underneath his chin. After a grunt of hurt, Black Jack quickly retaliated by hitting his enemy in the neck with a hard-hitting spinning back kick. They both staggered away from each other, their bodies showing dirt, bruises, cuts and gashes. Their insides were also badly damaged, thanks to this fight.

Darkfire's back hit the wall while Black Jack fell on one knee. They both spat out blood to the ground after receiving high damages from each other before holding their hurt anatomies. "[He's almost done," Black Jack thought while panting heavily. "[Just one more move."

He quickly rushed to his dark feathered nemesis, attempting to end it when he aimed his punch to his face. Darkfire quickly ducked down at the last second, making Black Jack slam his fist into the wall, smashing a hole in it with his fist stuck inside. Darkfire quickly slammed his foot at the back of Black Jack's, forcing his face to smash into the wall.

Black Jack, utterly battered and weakened, collapsed to the floor, with his fist slipping out of the hole. He rolled onto his front he struggled to get his feet, much Darkfire's and Damien's surprise. "He's got more spirit than I thought," Damien said noticeably.

"(I agree, master)," Darkfire growled.

Dazed, confused, poisoned, battered, bloodied and bruised, Black Jack struggled with all his might to get to his feet. But so far, he managed to get his knees. His eyes were vacant as he stared down to the ground and he was seemingly on the verge of passing out.

Darkfire, who was panting out of tiredness, took his stance ready to finish Black Jack off. With massive swiftness, he aimed his kick towards his head… but it was caught. Black Jack quickly caught his leg with his hand split seconds before the move could connect. He started to glow a dark purple aura around him before he slowly raised his head, glaring his evil, sadistic eyes at Darkfire.

He shoved his foot away, making him spin, before quickly standing up and harshly grabbing him by the neck. He looked into his eyes sadistically, choking him out with one hand. Darkfire grabbed him by the neck, attempting to choke him out but Black Jack's force was too much for him, making him release his grip from his neck and tried to use his strength to loosen his enemy's grasp but that too was futile.

While still having him in his physical clutches, he lifted him and slammed him into the wall with great strength and velocity. With a loud roar, vast anger and flat out brutality, he began pounding his entire body with his fists. The first blow had the speed and impact of a high-speed vehicle crashing into a human body, and each blow became harder and faster than the last one. Relentlessly, Black Jack kept on pounding him, crashing the bones and organs inside Darkfire's body, forcing him spit to out blood from his beak and receive a huge number of bruises.

After long seconds, the man in black stopped his vicious attack and took a couple of steps back. Completely stunned after several beatings, Darkfire stumbled towards Black Jack with no clue was going at that moment. When he got close enough Black Jack slammed a quick and strong uppercut underneath Dakrfire's lower beak.

Darkfire staggered until his back hit the wall. He shook his head to shake away the dizziness, surprised by Black Jack's quick comeback after he gave some of his devastating attacks. When he came to, he saw a big fist rushing into him. The fist slammed into his face, driving his head to crash into the wall with sheer force. Darkfire became unconscious after receiving that devastating blow, courtesy of Black Jack. He fell to the floor after his opponent slowly moved his fist away from him.

The aura around Black Jack began to slowly disappear and he fell to his knees after it disappeared completely. He panted heavily out of pain and fatigue, clutching to his hurt body parts.

Damien smiled bitterly. "All this time and this is what you got to show me?" he hissed as a dark energy ball engulfed on his open hand. "I can't wait an eternity for you to get to your full potential, talent and power… it's over, Black Jack."

With that said, he tossed his projectile towards Black Jack's back at a speed of sound. "Never!" Black Jack yelled as he quickly turned around, slamming a backhand punch on the fireball with his strength, sending it straight back towards Damien, much to his shock as he had no time to block or dodge. The energy ball exploded on impact. Black Jack shielded his eyes away from the flash and dust. The next thing he heard was some wood crashing sound from the bottom of the mountain while the smoke was clearing.

He assumed that Damien crashed into the abandoned hut he saw earlier. He turned towards the motionless Darkfire and slowly walked towards before grabbing him by the head and lower back. With the last ounce of his strength, he dragged him and threw him off the edge of the cliff, thinking that Damien might've been knocked off that part of the cliff. Sure enough, he heard another wood crashing sound. He slowly walked towards the end of the cliff, still holding his injured parts while panting.

Black Jack looked down from the edge of the cliff to see if Damien and Darkfire would move after taking that fall. He couldn't see them because it was too far down for him to see, yet he didn't care what happened to them. He covered his some of cut parts with his hands to stop the bleeding. His legs felt weak and shaky, along with being badly injured, bloodied and poisoned, physically forcing him to collapse to the floor of the cliff.

He began to struggle to get to his feet. With the strength he could muster, he crawled over to the walls of the mountain. He grabbed hold of the wall and used it for support as he slowly picked himself up, trying to get to his feet. He successfully did it. He attempted to walk but his legs were feeling weak because of the poison as he collapsed again, this time on his behind before resting his back against the wall.

"Maybe we ought to take five minutes, boys," he said weakly, trying to breath before his eyelids were beginning to feel tired and heavy. He tried to keep them open but to no avail, allowing his eyelids to drop down, making him see nothing but darkness. The next thing he knew, he couldn't feel a thing.

"Uncle! Uncle!" cried a desperate voice, sounding as though as the person was on the verge of tears. A pair of eyes slowly opened, seeing a young girl in tears. She had blond ponytail hair and a small scar underneath her left eye.

"Alice…" the uncle said weakly with a smile. "You didn't have to come here."

"Stop it!" Alice cried in sadness and fear as she held him by the shoulders. "We got to get you to the pokemon center!"

Behind her were her friends, Ash, Keith, Jerry, Alice, Aurora, Darkness and some of the dragon pokemon they had saved during the Team Molten and Ocean situation. They were all looking at Black Jack in shock. "Some underhanded sleaze ball knocked the boss out!" Jerry said.

"You wouldn't say that, Jerry," Keith said. "Not to that guy's face, whoever he is."

"Move out of the way for a second, kids," Black Jack said as he gave Alice a light push, trying to give himself some space. The others moved away a little. He struggled to get off his backside to no avail. He felt totally weak; his entire body was numb with aches and pains. He reached his arm upwards and grabbed hold of the rocky walls, using them for support to pick himself up while using the other arm to ease the pain in his stomach. He placed a lot of effort into getting up and managed to stand on his two feet, despite putting a lot of pain in his arm.

"Uncle! What are you doing?" Alice cried. "You can't do this by yourself!"

Black Jack ignored her as he walked with a limp towards the edge of the cliff while holding on to his badly injured anatomies but suddenly stopped. "The other guy," he said. "Where is he?"

"He's not here anymore," Ash said answering his question. "When we got here, he was already gone."

"Huh." That was Black Jack's bitter response as he continued walking to the cliff. He slowly stopped as he began to feel dizzy again. "Gotta… get to…" he managed to say before he collapsed. Aurora caught him before he could hit the ground.

Everyone rushed to his aid. Alice was first to get there and hugged her uncle tightly, tears still flowing. "Uncle… I'm sorry," she cried. "I should've been here! We promised that we look out for each other!"

Black Jack groaned in pain because of the tight hug, which increased the pain he already received. Alice loosened her hug a little, reducing the pain. "Uncle… please don't die…" she sobbed softly.

Keith placed her hand on Alice's shoulder. "Alice, we need to go now," Keith said. He slowly dragged her away from Black Jack. Alice turned around and gave him a hug.

Jerry and Ash placed Black Jack on Aurora's back. "It's alright, boss," Jerry said softly to him with a smile. "We have all been there."

Keith and Alice got on Darkness's back. Ash and Jerry got on the backs of the other dragons. One of them had Black Jack's bike and sledgehammer in his paws. They all took off, soaring high into the sky, flying towards the pokemon center.

While Black Jack was being held on by Aurora's clutches, he looked at his niece, who cried tears out of her eyes. He had his skin gashed and burned, his blood poisoned, his head damaged, his bones broken, and most of his organs busted.

But seeing the sad tears coming out of her eyes… that hurt him the most.  
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More coming! Reviews please! 


	31. Episode 8, Chapter 4

Again, I apologise for the guys who waited about over two months and I thank you guys for your patience. You guys are probably going to see the biggest shocker, at least for this series.

**Chapter 4**

"Nurse Joy! Nurse Joy! Anyone!" a girl screamed as she and her friends brought in a man who was in desperate of medical attention. He had gashes, bruises and dirt all over his body after a vicious fight he had with his nemesis. He was being carried by two of his young pupils, Jerry and Keith, two young boys that had a lot of respect for him. The girl that screamed was his beloved niece Alice. All of their friends ran towards them, looking at the injured man with shock and fear. The injured man was Black Jack, known to many as one of the most toughest and dangerous trainers.

"What is it?" Nurse Joy cried as she and Chansey ran out of the emergency room. Her face of concern also turned into shock when she saw how badly injured Black Jack was. "Oh my word," she said, her voice trembling with fear. Chansey let out a small fearful coo. "Chansey, go and get a stretcher for Black Jack," Nurse Joy ordered.

"Check on his pokemon too," Alice said in a desperate tone. "Please."

"We'll do the best we can for them," Nurse Joy said while the unconscious Black Jack was placed on the stretcher thanks to Jerry, Keith and Chansey.

As they took him away, Black Jack opened his eyes slightly, looking back at his niece who still had a look of total concern. She was one of a very few people he enjoyed being accompanied with. "Alice…" he whispered to himself before slowly becoming unconscious again.

Hours past. Alice stood in that same spot since she saw Black Jack entered the emergency room while everyone else either sat on their seats or walked around the room, either calmly or frantically. One thing for certain, they were all concerned about him and were totally silent.

"Darling!" a woman's voice said, catching everyone's attention. Eyes widened with surprise, Alice turned around, saw a woman dressed in rich clothing and two men in suits. She immediately recognised them as…

"Mum! Dad! Grandpa!" she cried. They ran to each other and gave each other a heart-warming hug until Alice realised something. "How did you guys know?"

"It was me," Detective Stevens said. "I couldn't let them not know about this because they're family."

Alice gave her friend a small forced smile, appreciating him for his concern. "Thanks," she said.

Her father John placed his hands on her shoulders. "Tell us everything, sweetheart," he said.

"I'll tell you instead," Ash said, stepping towards them.

While Ash explained the whole situation, the all continued to wait and pray in silence for Black Jack to recover for the next couple of hours. Soon, the neon sign above the emergency room doors was turned off signalling that the operation was over. Everyone noticed that and they all rushed to the door, with Alice and the rest of the Hummingburg family in front of them before Nurse Joy came out.

"Nurse Joy," Alice said in a desperate tone. "Are Black Jack and his pokemon going to make it?"

"Please just tell us the truth," John begged, also being desperate.

"The pokemon have suffered terrible injuries but they'll be fine in a few days," Nurse Joy replied reassuringly before turning on a worried face. "But Black Jack… like your friend Chan, he was poisoned as well. We used most of the juice of the Puritay Berry on Chan before Black Jack came in and we had to use what's left of it. We did all we can for him. Whether he makes it or not, it's up to him."

Silence came upon the group. They tried to take in the information the nurse gave them. "Can we see him?" Sandra, Alice's mother, asked.

"You can. Unfortunately, Black Jack is still unconscious and he now needs a room to rest in so he won't be able to talk for the time being. Same goes for his pokemon," she said. Upon saying that, each Chanseys pushed a stretcher. Each stretcher had Black Jack and his pokemon resting on them as they were being taken to their separate rooms. Everyone got out of their way, showing their sad and scared looks after seeing the scars, bruises, stitches and bandages on the badly injured. Alice and her family followed Black Jack's stretcher to his room.

Ash walked into the opposite direction, heading to the exit with Pikachu on his shoulders. Misty, Brock, Max and May looked into his direction and decided to follow them, just in case he needs comforting.

Once outside, Ash stood a small distance away from the building, looking around the village. There was still a lot of work to done for the buildings to be completely restored after Team Molten set fire to them. He remembered a number of events that happened throughout this whole adventure: the kidnapping of Misty, the burning village, not chosen to save Misty, and most recently not helping Black Jack out, which led him to be badly injured. He felt nothing but guilt and his best friend Pikachu felt it. He leapt off his shoulder and safely landed on the ground. "Pika," he squeaked, facing towards him.

Ash looked down towards his friend. Forcing a small smile before crouching down, still looking at him. "Pikachu," he said. "Am I doing something wrong here?"

"(What do you mean)?" Pikachu squeaked.

"We've been through a lot together, didn't we? We took out Jessie, James and Meowth a bunch of times, we saved the world a bunch of times… and without Black Jack's help either when he was with Team Rocket at the time. After seeing him like that, thinking about what's been happening recently and everything… am I losing it or something?"

"Don't be like that, Ash," he heard Misty's voice say behind him. He turned around and saw his friends a distance behind him.

"We all know how you feel about all this and that you wanted to help him but from the way I see it, he wanted to fight this guy along," Brock said.

"I know all that," Ash said. "I know Black Jack's going to be fine but… what about the time when Misty was captured? I wanted to save you, Misty, I really did but…"

He looked down to the ground in shame as he placed his hand on his mouth, trying to hold back his tears. Misty walked towards him and hugged him in an embrace before she slowly moved his hand away from his mouth, planting a soft kiss on his lips. "I understand, Ash," she said. "I'd go crazy too if you were caught."

Brock sobbed uncontrollably as he looked at this entire scene while Max and May smiled happily at the loving couple.

Elsewhere in the pokemon centre, Cassandra was walking aimlessly around the corridors. She apparently was the only person who had the least worry for Black Jack. Five years ago, she had a couple of pokemon battles with him and noticed firsthand how tough Black Jack and his pokemon really were. She also saw that Black Jack survived a collapsing building when he was stuck in it. In her opinion, Black Jack may be the toughest trainer around. And even if he does get himself on the verge of dying, or become totally dead, he always makes a comeback. Despite all that, she wasn't all that bothered.

"Cassandra," hissed a voice behind her, catching her attention. She turned around saw a man in a green ninja suit.

"Seed," she said, recognising the person. "Long time, no see."

"It's obvious that you don't show much concern for Black Jack."

"With good reason too," Cassandra said. "He can look after himself."

"Be aware that he is the key to a miracle," the ninja said. "I don't want him to do anything reckless. The fate of the world is in their hands after all."

"It always has been. He always makes a comeback no matter what happens."

"I hope you're sure about this for your sake and everybody else's. For now, I bid you farewell," he said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"That guy worries too much," she said noticeably.

"I feel like such a jerk," Isaac said cursing himself. "If I had known that Black Jack would turn out that way, I would've helped him out."

He and the rest of the Orre Pack group were in one of the spare rooms of the pokemon centre. Stevens and Isaac were talking about the situation with Black Jack while Wes and Rui sat on a couch. Mecha and Plusle were using a laptop doing some research, trying to get over the whole thing.

"We're all to blame for not helping him out," Stevens said. "But on the other hand, there is a very good chance that he wouldn't let us help anyway. He either has too much on him or that he has a grudge to settle with that guy or possibly both."

With concern, Rui turned to look at Wes who appeared to be in deep thought. Something in her mind told her that he wasn't being cool and calm like he usually was despite his exterior. Only this time he was in a trance. "Wes? Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

Wes just remained silent, not giving her any attention, still being in a trance. Starting to get worried, Rui gently shook him by the shoulders. "Wes? Wes?" she asked.

He was still not responding.

"Wes…" she said, still trying to comfort him. "About what happened out there… it was really scary about what happened to Black Jack but we all know how strong he is and that goes for his pokemon."

"That's not what I'm worried about. I know he's gonna be fine… it's something else," Wes said as he stood up from the furniture. "Can we talk outside?"

Rui gave a small nod. "Sure," she said as she followed him to the door. Their Orre Pack team-mates couldn't help but look.

Once outside, Wes had his back to Rui. She had hopeful feeling of what Wes might do. "[Is he going to announce his love to me?" she thought to herself. "[After all, we've been through a lot together."

That was true, ever since he saved her from Team Snagem, one of criminal organisations in the Orre, she saw him as her knight in shining armour. After Team Snagem was gone, she had stuck with him during all the adventures they had together.

"Rui," Wes said calmly, inadvertently making her wince. He still had his back to her. "We all know that Black Jack is a strong man and he will make it after those tough fights. But if I were in that situation, I'd probably wouldn't make it."

Rui grew saddened at the thought. "Don't… say that, Wes," she said.

"Sorry. But I just wanna tell you something in case something happens," he said before turning showing a calm smile.

"[My gosh! He's going say he loves me!" she thought. Her heart was beating with joy and excitement as she showed a red blush on her face.

Wes's eyes narrowed. "Rui…" he said dully, yet still showing a smile. "You're very annoying."

He slowly walked past the shocked and distraught Rui, back into the room. After that, she stood on that same spot for long minutes.

In Black Jack's room, his family were sitting or standing by the side of his bed, worried sick. A number of wires were attached to his chest and a heart monitor, which showed that his heart was beating as normal despite that he was still unconscious and that he had a number of scars and bruises all over his body.

His brother, John, gently grasped his hand. "Please, Jack," he pleaded quietly. "We lost our parents when we kids. Please don't make us lose you too."

The guilty Alice looked from her uncle to her father's saddened face. Then her mother's and then her grandfather's. She quickly turned away from them, tears forming in her eyes. She hated the sadness shown on their faces. "Mum! Dad! Grandpa!" she sobbed. "I'm sorry! It's all my fault!"

"Darling? What are you saying?" her mother Sandra asked.

"I'm sorry!" Alice cried before running out of the room. She couldn't look at her family at this minute.

"Darling!" Sandra cried as she ran after her.

John went to do the same but his adoptive father, Jason, stopped him. "No," he said. "Your brother needs you."

John looked back towards his unconscious brother, knowing that Jason was telling the truth. "Yes, father," he said.

In the pokemon centre canteen, Prof. Kesner was sitting at one of the tables with his elbows on the said furniture and his hands clasping his head. He looked to in be a state where he would throw a panic any minute. "Father?" he heard a girl say.

He yelped in fright when he heard a single sound. The girl happened to be sitting in a wheelchair thanks to the injury she suffered years ago. It was Christie, Prof. Kesner's daughter. Behind her was Shakespeare, the family's Gengar, who was pushing her wheelchair. They became shocked by her father's reaction. "Sorry if I scared you, father," she said, placing her hand on her chest, breathing in and out to calm herself down.

"Sorry, Christie," Prof. Kesner said. "But there's something we need to discuss."

He placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "It's about what happened to Mr. Black Jack," he said, trying to be as calm as he could but with a hint of sorry in his voice. "And I'm afraid that… it may happen to you."

Surprised showed on Christie's and Shakespeare's eyes for a small second before they looked down in sadness. "Christie," Kesner continued. "I want you to be happy, but I also want you to be safe and what's best for you and Shakepeare."

"I know, father," she said in a down tone. "After seeing Black Jack like that, it was… scary."

They remained in silence, not moving an inch for a few minutes until Christie placed her hand on her father's in an attempt to comfort him. Kesner looked up from his hands to her daughter's face, forcing a small but fitting smile while she did the same. "We got to be there for each other," she said. Shakespeare couldn't help but smile at their family bond.

Elsewhere, a tearful Alice was in one of corridors of the pokemon centre, sitting down on the floor with her knees up to her face. She was upset for more reasons than just seeing what state Black Jack was in. She felt she let him down, better yet she let the family down and she could never forgive herself.

Soon, she felt a hand placed on top of her shoulder. It made her flinch before she quickly looked up towards her spiky haired friend, Keith. "Alice…" he said.

She was afraid to see him looking at her like this. Still feeling ashamed of herself of not helping her beloved uncle out when he was being beaten down. "Keith…" she sobbed as she placed her forehead back onto her knees. "I should've been there when he was getting badly hurt."

Keith reflected on his days back when he was with Team Ocean, when his father was alive at the time. After thinking why his father sacrificed himself and why Black Jack did the same, neither one allowing their young ones to get harmed, he came up with the answer. "Alice…"

"It's like this one time," Alice said, still with tears coming out of her eyes, not realising that Keith wanted to say something. "I was in a forest picking some berries for our travelling and then a bunch of big Ursarings came out, trying to attack me for some reason. Then, uncle Jack would come out and protect me, getting his pokemon to take me away from them. He got really angry and I wanted to help him but his pokemon wouldn't let me. It was a few minutes later I went to get some water but I saw uncle Jack there. He had three huge scars on his back, bumps and bruises all over the place. He turned around and saw me coming his way. I couldn't look at him. I turned around and ran away. I felt like I failed him in some way. I never spoke to him until the next morning… now it's happening again."

Keith listened to her entire story before he gave a hug. "I know the feeling," he said. "I think the reason why he did that because he loves you. He cares about you."

"I love him too," Alice sobbed, crying on his chest. "I promised everyone that I would protect him but…"

"Hey… it's okay. Everyone understands," Keith whispered caringly giving her a hug.

Keith looked over her and saw Sandra, still with the sad look. Jerry wasn't far behind either, as he looked on from around the corner, also depressed after hearing and looking at the whole thing.

From that point on, the Hummingburgs were not able to sleep for a couple of days because of their concern for Black Jack until at one point at night they had no choice when sleep had gotten the best of them. Jason slept inside one of the borrowed rooms of the center while Alice, John and Sandra slept inside Black Jack's room. Everyone else also slept that night. Unbeknownst to them, an energetic light glow came from Black Jack and his pokemon for a brief moment.

The following morning…

A pair of eyes was slowly opening until they were fully opened, looking at a pair of mouse-like eyes looking down at his. "Pikachu!" the mouse-eyed creature squeaked quietly. The other pair of eyes belonged to Black Jack.

"Hey there, you little critter," he said as slowly sat up while Pikachu leapt off his chest to other end of the bed. Black Jack looked around, finding himself in a hospital. He saw Alice and the rest of family sleeping in their respective chairs covered with blankets. Alice was the closest to him with her chair next to his bed with her chest and face resting on it.

"(They haven't slept for a couple of days)," Pikachu cooed quietly. "(They had been so worried about you. Poor guys)."

"I've been unconscious for that long?" Black Jack asked himself. "Dang."

"(I guess that guy must've done a number on you)," Pikachu squeaked.

Black Jack angrily gripped his blankets, knowing what Pikachu meant. "(I… I didn't mean to make you angry. Sorry)," Pikachu squeaked nervously.

Black Jack loosened his grip and breathed in calmly. "It's okay, critter," Black Jack said. "Where are the other guys?"

"(Your pokemon are recovering. Everyone is asleep right now but more importantly, we're all worried about you guys)."

"A small help and now I'm being treated like some king," Black Jack said in annoyed tone, putting his hand on his forehead.

"(How are you feeling)?"

"I feel… fine actually," Black Jack said when he felt no pain at all, much to his surprise. He was expecting all of his body parts to be aching like it was yesterday as though he went through a huge stunt like getting hit and ran over by a gigantic truck. He ripped off some of his bandages to see if there was any gash on any part of his body. There wasn't any.

Alice began to stir and Black Jack and Pikachu noticed. She rubbed her eyes to get rid of the blurriness before stretching her arms out. The first person she was her uncle who was forcing a smile. "Morning, Alice," he said.

"Uncle," she said sleepily. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Yeah…" Black Jack replied, getting into some deep thought.

After saying that, Jason and Sandra began to stir, waking up from their sleep. After they fully woken up, the first person they saw was Black Jack with no scars, much to their relief and surprise. "Jack…" John said. "You have no…"

"Morning, John, Sandra," Black Jack said quietly. "Sorry to trouble you guys."

"We got here as soon as we heard the news," Sandra said. "We were so worried about you."

"Again, sorry about that," Black Jack replied. There was a moment of silence between them until he broke it up. "Can I have… a few minutes on my own please? I wanna think."

"Whatever you want, Jack," John said as he and the other family members and Pikachu went outside the door.

"And, hey, can someone bring Prof. Kesner in here?" Black Jack requested.

"Sure thing, uncle," Alice said.

"Who's Prof. Kesner?" John asked as they left the room.

A few moments later, someone knocked on Black Jack's door while he sat on his bed. "Come in," he said.

As he expected, Kesner entered the room. "You wanted to see me, Mr. Black Jack?" he asked.

"Yeah," Black Jack said, offering him a seat, which the professor accepted. "About last night. Scary, wasn't' it?"

Kesner felt a shiver down his spine as he let down a huge gulp in his throat. "Yes," he said fearfully.

"I just wanna let you know that I took care of him and he isn't going to hurt anybody. However, if he comes back then he'll be lookout for me so your daughter's safe and you don't have to worry."

Despite Black Jack's confidence in his nemesis's comeback and Christie's safety, Prof. Kesner still didn't like the idea of having to let his daughter go. "I… I still can't let her go," he said nervously.

"Why not?" Black Jack asked, sounded rather annoyed.

"There's just too many dangerous things out there. Ever since…"

"Hey. Hold on a second," Black Jack interrupted. "Enough of this protection bull. Don't you remember what she did to those Team Ocean thugs when she teamed up with Jerry?"

"I know. She helped beat…"

Black Jack held his hand out to stop him from talking. "She and Shakespeare zapped some serious ," he said, being absolutely serious. "I was there, watching the whole thing when she battled them. If Jerry and Jacky fought on their own, they would have no chance. She told us that she wanted to go on a pokemon journey and the way I heard it, she meant it."

Kesner became startled by Black Jack's reaction. "Look, fella," Black Jack said. "If you can't get rid of that fear of yours, how will Christie get on? There are guys like Ketchum who can help Christie out. I bet that she can inspire others to do their best no matter what's wrong with them."

Kesner looked down in shame. "I'm sorry, Mr. Black Jack. Ever since my wife died and my daughter becoming permanently paralysed in that car crash, I was so scared of what might happen to her," he said.

"She'll have Shakespeare with her. He's a strong pokemon and she's a caring trainer. They make a great team. Besides, they'll catch more pokemon along the way."

They were both silent for a brief until Kesner spoke again. "I'll… have a chat with everyone and see what happens," he said before he left the room. When he opened the door, he found a man with brown curly hair and a pair of glasses wearing a doctor's uniform.

They both said their hellos before they got out of each other's way. Prof. Kesner walked out of the room while the doctor entered it. "Mr. Black Jack," the doctor said, checking on his sheets on a clipboard. "I see that you've woken up after the last couple of days. How are you feeling today?"

"I'm fine, doc," Black Jack replied. "This may surprise you but I'm feeling no pain at all."

The doctor looked at the ripped off bandages and remembered where they were placed. "To be honest with you, I am," the doctor said. "I'm going to have to test you out to see if you are actually feeling fine."

After some time of testing him such as tapping his knee with a small hammer to a blood test, it turned out that Black Jack was more than healthy and was now allowed to leave the hospital. "Well, there are no symptoms or bleeding scars on your body, Mr. Black Jack so you're free to go," the doctor said calmly. "But next time, try to be a bit more careful when you get yourself involved in a fight."

"Careful's not in my vocabulary," Black Jack said. "Hey, doc, can you do me a favour and tell everyone not to disturb me?"

"Any reason why?"

Black Jack let out a small sigh as he looked down with a vacant expression. "I need to think."

"Understood. I'll inform everyone."

And with that, the doctor left the room, leaving Black Jack resting on his bed.

Outside, everyone gathered around the doctor asking of Black Jack's well being. "That man is one hundred percent healthy and free to go," he replied. "But he's staying in his room until further notice and would like to request everyone not to enter."

A look of hurt and worry showed on Alice's face. "Uncle Jack…" she whispered to herself. Jerry placed his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Don't worry about a thing, Alice," he said optimistically with a cheery smile. "The important thing is that the boss is a-okay. But if he needs a little cheering up, I know a thing or two."

With that, he walked away with confidence, leaving Alice still worried but with more reasons. "I hope his pokemon are okay," Ash said.

Sure enough, at a different part of the pokemon centre, Nurse Joy ran various tests on Black Jack's pokemon and to her and everyone's surprise they were completely healed. After that, they were all told that their trainer was completely healed as well but didn't want to leave yet and that he wanted some time alone. They were also told Bluesky's mother, Raincloud also became well and was released to be with her clan. They were leased from their rooms to the outdoor section of the centre where other pokemon and their trainers played various games or socialised with others. "(Yesh! Fresh air at last)!" Mike growled happily stretching his arms out.

"(So it was two days since we were in the ER, eh)?" Chan growled. "(I thought it would take longer than that considering how much damage we took from that battle)."

"(I don't think it has something to do with the medical stuff they got here)," Snake growled. "(I sense that someone have healed us up)."

"(Damien, maybe)?" Hardshell growled.

"(I doubt that. Maybe it's something to do with Jack and I hope that he'll tell us at some point)."

"(Speaking of Jack, what do you think he's thinking right now)?" Spike asked.

"(He's probably thinking something big or maybe somewhere else to go to)."

Bluesky was the only pokemon who remained quiet throughout this whole conversation. "(Hey! What's up, bud)?" Spike asked.

"(Um… nothing really)," the blue dragon growled.

"(Come on)," Mike growled, wrapping his arm around his friend's head. "(You got a girlfriend, don't ya)?"

"(Yeah! We heard you screech her name out when we were in that Team Molten building)."

"(We all heard it)," Snake growled with a small smile. "(And if you want to leave to be with her then I got your back)."

"(Same here)," Hardshell growled.

"(You have my blessing)," Chan growled as he clasped his paws and bowed to Bluesky in respect.

"(You can go ahead but I get sing that 'Sitting-in-a-tree' song any time I want)," Mike growled teasingly.

Bluesky was quite overwhelmed by almost everyone's acceptance towards Aurora, as he held back his tears. However, tears began to form in Spike's eyes, about to show his emotional disapproval. "(I can't believe you guys)!" Spike roared. "(Can't you guys see what's happening here!? We've been together before for a long time since we were just little snappers! If Bluesky goes away, then there will be no more Snappy Seven)!"

Everyone gave him an awkward look. "(Since when did we call ourselves the Snappy Seven)?" Hardshell asked.

"(I spoke to Jack about this and he allowed it)," Bluesky growled.

"(What!? Jack allowed it!? Idiot)!" Spike roared before he ran away, bawling like a baby. "(You're not going anywhere)!"

"(Meh. He'll get over it soon)," Snake growled, apathetic of Spike's reaction.

Suddenly, they heard a loud cry above them and saw an orange winged dragon flying over them. "(Aurora)," Bluesky growled loudly while she slowly and safely landed to the ground.

"(I'm so glad you're okay)!" Aurora cooed with delight as she ran and hugged in a loving embrace.

As they hugged, Blueksy looked back at his friends who stood by his side through thick and thin during their early days as travellers and fighters. Each and everyone one of them showing their forced but fitting smile. Mike on the other was on the verge of crying as tears of sadness was forming in his eyes. Now, he decided to make a life changing decision. "(Aurora)," he whispered into her ear. "(There's something important I want to ask you)…"

Back inside Black Jack's room, he was still in deep thought he heard his door shut. He quickly turned his head towards it but no one was there. Still, he can still sense some closer to him as slowly turned his head away. "I said I don't want anyone in here," he said, getting annoyed.

"Oh, come on!" Jerry's voice cried cheerfully. "Don't be like that, Mr. Black Jack. For I'm…"

A small yellow Pikachu puppet quickly rose from the side of the bed, with Jerry's hand in it. "Mr. Peekatyou!" he cried, much to Black Jack's aggravation, before he stood fully up. "Say hello to Mr. Peekatyou! Mr. Peekatyou knows you've been feeling really bad so he's going to give you a big kiss!"

"Kiss this!" Black Jack roared.

Some loud bashing could be heard outside the room before Jerry got thrown out, now with a lost tooth and black eye. Black Jack slammed the door behind him and then some tearing was heard from inside. He opened the door again and threw the ripped up puppet at dazed Jerry. "Next time, knock!" he yelled before slamming the door shut again.

He turned around and saw a filled up paper bag with grease on it. Curiously, he looked inside it and found a sandwich with greasy good in it along with an apple and a beer. Alongside them was a note. He took it out and started reading the following words 'Lunch time'. He immediately recognised the handwriting, which belonged to Alice. "[Thanks, Alice," he thought.

Down at the cafeteria, Alice and all of her friends were sitting down having their lunch. Everyone was quiet while they munched away on their food. The only person missing was Jerry. "Hi, everybody!" he said loudly, getting everyone's attention. They all looked up and, to their shock, saw that he was now covered in bandages and plasters all over his head, which showed signs of his outcome for disturbing Black Jack.

"I guess Black Jack really meant it when he said not to disturb him," Ash said.

"Did uncle Jack get his lunch?" Alice asked.

"Yep!" Jerry replied happily, holding his thumb up, signalling about his success.

"Thanks," Alice said. She looked back on her food, using her fork to poke at her food. She hardly ate anything since that day he was sent to the emergency room. At first she was deeply worried and saddened by Black Jack's bad injury but she was now worried about his mental well-being after he was beaten down by this unknown trainer. On more than one occasion, better yet several occasions, she saw her uncle getting into fights and got himself scarred or badly bruised in some of them but she never saw him this badly hurt before.

She looked around the table, seeing other people eating theirs. No one was uttering a word. No one wanted to say anything that might make the situation even more awkward than it already was after seeing someone they highly respected get beaten up by a dangerous man.

She placed her fork down. "I'm full," she said tonelessly. "May I be excused?"

Without waiting for an answer, she left the table, going somewhere where she could be alone. "I'll go talk to her," John said to his wife as he left the table, following Alice out of the canteen. "Alice, where are you going?" he asked with concern.

"I'm going for a walk, dad," she replied.

"Alice, sweetheart, you hardly ate, drank or slept for two days now. I'm worried about you and Jack," he replied.

Alice remained silent for a number of seconds until she started talking. "I... I... wanted to be there for him... to help him out... just like he always helped me..." Alice said sadly as she walked away. Her father followed and they began talking. Eventually, she was in tears.

Sometime later, back at Black Jack's room, someone knocked on his door. "Go away!" he barked. Still, someone entered the door. It was Jerry again but with a wooden guitar. "What part of 'go away' didn't you get?" he snarled.

"Come on, boss!" Jerry said optimistically. "I can tell getting beaten up like that for the first time is hard to swallow so I want to cheer you up a little bit."

"Jerry, I'm warning you, do not play the guitar," Black Jack snarled angrily.

"Let me try. Let me try singing er… something soothing."

Jerry gave his guitar a small strum to set himself up. No sooner than a minute, he started playing the singing. "Koombaya, my lord. Koombaya… Koombaya, my lord. Koombaya…"

Some people would like his playing and singing but Black Jack would have a more negative opinion and it showed when his eyes twitched from an annoyed look to death-threatening glare. Jerry noticed and immediately stopped out of fear. "I know! How about something that can really cheer you up!" he said quickly.

Jerry strummed his guitar before he quickly sang the following words. "Jimmy crack corn and I don't care, Jimmy crack corn and I don't care, Jimmy crack corn and I don't ca-a-a-a-are…! I got very blond hair! I got very blond hair…!"

Outside, Jerry's singing could be heard…

KABONG!

Until the sound of guitar smashing occurred. The door opened and Black Jack kicked Jerry out of his room, now with the broken instrument stuck around his head. "And stay out!" Black Jack shouted before slamming the door shut. But then, he quickly opened the door again. "Hey, Jerry, get me a food menu, a notepad and a pen, will ya?" he asked calmly.

"Sure thing, boss," Jerry replied, struggling to get the guitar off. "But can you get this thing off me?"

Sometime later, Black Jack got everything what he wanted. He was resting on his hospital bed, taking a few bites of his dinner and a few sips of his coffee while thinking long and hard what to write on his notepad.

The next morning, Black Jack walked out of his room, dressed in usual black leather attire. It was very early so there would be good chance that no one would be awake. Upon his exit, he found Alice sleeping on a chair with a blanket covering her lower body. Not wanting her to catch a cold, Black Jack picked up the blanket and placed over her, from her shoulders to her feet. With guilty eyes hiding behind his sunglasses, he lowered his head and planted a kiss on her forehead before walking away.

"Everyone, search for Black Jack and his pokemon now!" one of the nurses shouted outside his used room. It was a couple of hours after Black Jack left the room and he never came back since and the nurse found him missing moments ago, along with his pokemon. "That man hasn't filled in his release form!"

At first, some people thought he probably went to do some training but it was said that Black Jack left, which read out, 'Stay strong, Alice, like you always do. Don't worry about me.'

Most likely, it meant one thing. Convinced, many set out to look for him.

Inside the room, Alice was holding a piece of paper in her hand, reading out the following words. There was no doubt in her mind that this was his handwriting. She looked at the letter with emotionless eyes and stood on the same spot for long minutes now. Despite the look in her eyes, there were a couple of words that could describe her emotions. Shocked and saddened, both of them deep.

While she continued reading, everyone was looking for Black Jack in every location he could've gotten to. Jerry in particular was frantic about it; he didn't want to see his boss go away without reason. "Where could the boss get to?" he cried desperately. "He couldn't have gone far!"

He rushed outside the centre and looked around rapidly, seeing a number of people looking for him, calling him out while others minded their own business.

"Black Jack! Where are you!?"

"Black Jack! Come back!"

Jerry began rubbing his head, trying to figure out where Black Jack could've gone. "[The boss wouldn't go to a bar! They wouldn't open this early in the morning!" he thought desperately. After theorising a number of locations he remembered that Bluesky was thinking about either rejoining his clan or stay with Black Jack. Now, thanks to his closest friends, this made his decision a lot easier.

Unless…

Somewhere over at the mountains, the dragons were getting to fly away from their recently discovered hiding place. Amongst them were Bluesky, his mother Raincloud and his mate Aurora, who accepted his proposal. There were others who were not of the dragon species but everyone agreed to let them travel alongside them. "Yeah, can someone carry my bike and sledgehammer while we fly?" the bearded human asked. He was wearing a leather jacket, a pair of jeans, boots, a pair of sunglasses and a cloth wrapped around his head… all black. "Thanks. I pay you back somehow," he said appreciatively after one of the dragons did so. That human was Black Jack.

"(Nonsense)!" the tall green dragon Flygon replied gladly. "(This is the least I can do after you saved us)!"

"(Jacky)!" two monsters cried happily as they leapt towards Black Jack from behind, giving him a big hug.

"(This is great)" Spike growled. "(Us hanging out together)!"

"(Yeah! Just like old times! Well… more or less)!" Mike growled.

Black Jack was nowhere near happy, as he knew what he was about to do. "(If you say so)…" he said tonelessly as he lowered his head down.

"(Boys)," Snake growled, walking up towards them. "(I need a word with Jack… privately)."

The boisterous duo agreed to do so as they walked away, getting ready for take off while Black Jack turned towards him, listening to what his friend had to say. "(Are you sure that she is ready)?" the green Tyranitar growled. "(Ready to face the world without you)?"

Black Jack knew whom he was referring to. "I'm sure. She's old enough to look after herself," he said, with a slight guilt in his tone. "Sure it's gonna be weird but I don't her there if something happens."

Snake knew that his friend was incorrect in that statement. "(It's going to be more than weird, Jack)," he growled. "(It's gonna hurt when we go away, leaving her travelling with the other cubs)."

"Snake, you knew that after we dealt with that punk we had our bones broken and organs busted. But there's one thing that hurt me the most. Seeing Alice crying… now that… really… hurt."

Despite his eyes hidden behind his sunglasses, Snake could tell the emotion that his long time trainer was feeling. "Besides, she's not a cub anymore," Black Jack finished.

"BOSS!" yelled a tearful voice, catching everyone's attention. They, apart from Black Jack, turned towards the blond teen with tears forming in her eyes. It was Jerry, the underdog of a pokemon trainer and Black Jack's about-to-be former student. "Why!? Why are you leaving!?"

"Man!" Black Jack grunted in annoyance.

"Boss, I know I haven't been the best student here," Jerry cried with desperation in his voice. "But I always saw you as my teacher… no, a friend… no, one of my best friends, ever since you took me and helped me train my pokemon. I never cared about how much of that hard training you put me through and I never will! I just want to be as strong as you! I love you, boss!"

He cried the last few words the loudest. Black Jack shut his eyes a little tightly, still in annoyance while everyone was shocked of how Jerry felt for him. "What about, Alice, boss!?" Jerry cried. "You can't leave her like this, not after everything you guys been through! If it's about that guy who hurt you badly a couple of days ago, I can help you fight him! We'll help you fight him! If you walk away right now, I'll call for help!"

Black Jack turned around, looking back at the tearful Jerry, the young boy who highly appreciated and respected all his teachings since day one of his training alongside him. Black Jack slowly towards with a small smile on his face before his hand on his shoulder. "Jerry?" he said.

"Yeah?" Jerry replied in a curious and hopeful tone.

Black Jack turned his smile into a moody frown. "Shut up," he snarled before he squeezed his shoulder, stopping the nerve in his body.

"[Boss…" Jerry thought in shock before he fell asleep, collapsing to the floor.

After seeing his prone body lying the floor, Black Jack turned his attention back to the dragons. "Let's get outta here," he said before walking away.

"Jerry! Answer me!" a voice shouted.

"Hey, Jerry! Wake up!" shouted another.

"Pikachu! Pika!" squeaked a Pikachu's voice.

It was few minutes later after Black Jack knocked Jerry with a sleeper hold. His eyes slowly opened and saw Ash, Keith and Pikachu in his gaze. "Guys…?" he mumbled sleepily.

"Black Jack," Ash said. "Did he…?

"Boss!" Jerry cried as he quickly sat up, tears forming in his eyes. "He left us!"

"What!?" Keith said in shock, angry at Black Jack's audacity of abandoning his niece. "How could he do this? What will his family think?"

"Let him go, my friends," said a voice, catching everyone's attention. It was John, Black Jack's brother, who was walking towards them. "I think he wants to be along for a while after all of this."

"But what about Alice?" Keith asked worryingly.

"She will understand after I talk to her. After all that training from her uncle Jack, she'll be alright," John replied with a small smile. "But I'll be grateful if you two can travel with her… please?"

Keith and Jerry looked at John's face. He had small smile on his face but his eyes were rather saddened. They began to understand what Black Jack and his family were going through.

"You bet!" Jerry shouted enthusiastically, tears streaming down from his eyes. "It's the least I can do after everything Black Jack did for me!"

"Sure," Keith said, with a hint of guilt in his voice after he felt abandoned by the one who also took him in. "Black Jack took me after he saved me from Team Ocean and I get to meet Alice again… I'll do it."

"How's Alice, John?" Ash asked.

"She is still in the room where Black Jack was before he left."

"Well, I hope that she'll get into a training spirit… somehow."

Back at Alice's location, Alice still had the note in hand but this time, she looked out of the window, wondering if she could see her uncle riding on one of the dragons.

Indeed, he was riding on one of them as they flew past the hospital a distance away. One of the dragons had his motorcycle and sledgehammer in his paws. Apart from Bluesky, his pokemon were kept inside his pokeballs. He looked down at one of the windows and saw Alice, who also saw him. Both of them had showed their sad faces as they reflected back on the days they had together since the start of her pokemon journey. From getting Alice a small Cyndaquil to participating in pokemon battling championships. They had many great times yet they had their bad times but no matter what happened, they remained more than just relatives to this day.

Unfortunately today, Black Jack decided on his own accord to leave everyone he respected… and those he loved, for reasons he cannot say to them yet. Despite that they took a small glimpse at each other, it felt like an eternity before Black Jack turned his attention back on the dragons while Alice kept on looking. "Let's move it guys," he said in a toneless voice.

While still looking, a tear fell from her eye. "Uncle," she whispered sadly wondering why he left her.

He did look back once and it caused pain in his heart. He never dared to look back again that day. And so, he kept on flying to find an ideal hideaway for the dragon clan.  
-----------------------------  
Epilogue coming up!

That's right, the series is coming to end, people. I can't believe that myself. But the good news is... another series is coming up.


End file.
